


This Kind of Certainty

by The28thAurora



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Absolutely Relentless Flirting, Ben Solo Can Cook, Bonus Fanart in Final Part Because Why Not?, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Epilogue/The Next Chapter, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Force Dyad (Star Wars), Happily Ever After, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Oral Sex, Overcoming Fear, Pining, Pregnancy Kink, Profound Longing, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Soulmates, Sacred Sex, Self-Discovery, Short Story, Starting A Family, Teasing, That's Not How The Force Works, The Force Wants Grandkids, Working things out, cheesy pet names, searching for purpose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23644132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The28thAurora/pseuds/The28thAurora
Summary: Just as Rey and Ben are beginning to get accustomed to their lives after the war and living together on Coruscant, visions from the Force convince them to travel to a planet in the unknown regions, to an abandoned Je'daii temple.However, the pretense of a research trip couldn't be further from the truth, as the dyad start to discover a great deal more about themselves and their future...
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico (mentioned), Poe Dameron & Finn, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Strictly speaking, this is a sequel to my previous work, Days of Exile, but that does not have to be read first for this work to be enjoyed.

_Dear Rey of Jakku,_

_You are cordially invited to Coruscant's Victory Ball, to take place tomorrow night, celebrating the homecoming of the Republic's troops after three years of conflict. As you were an integral part of the Republic's triumph over the tyrannical First Order, you would be attending as our guest of honor._

_We eagerly await your prompt response and hope you and your consort will be able to attend._

_Sincerely,_

_The Senators of the New Republic_

Despite the slightly bleary state of Rey's still-waking eyes, she could read the delicately detailed, opulent letterhead just fine by the bright sunlight of late morning filtering in through the tall windows of her sleek, penthouse apartment in Coruscant.

She'd barely been on the city-planet for three weeks, and already the press and the Senate, and even the people, were starting to grow ecstatic at the knowledge that she was walked the streets among them. Fortunately, few people actually knew what the savior of the galaxy looked like, but she'd been very careful to not use her real name whenever she ordered food at the local small businesses – going instead by the alter ego Kira Finch (a name her and Ben had agreed on together – he'd liked the ring of Kira, and she'd insisted on a bird-like last name).

It had been a very strange three weeks, living just down the hall from her closest friends – Rose, Finn and Poe, all just a holler away. They'd stayed up well into the morning hours on more than one occasion, talking about everything and nothing, teaching each other card games, laughing uproariously at the bad dramas playing on the holonet they got hooked on together.

Living with Ben, however, was now as easy as breathing.

They'd fallen right into an easy routine.

He left early each morning to go to the Reformed Jedi temple and slowly work through his probation program, working his way up to officially gaining the rank of Master – a title Rey had been readily given after she'd completed the trials within her first few days on Coruscant.

Rey thought the minimal Jedi council putting Ben on a probation trial was sordidly unfair.

Ben had countered that, as he'd been one of the most dangerous Sith in the galaxy, he was lucky that they were even letting him into the temple to train.

Rey's retort was that he hardly needed the official title from living Jedi to be able to start up their own temple – but the training routine, and open scholarly discussions he'd been able to have with Masters Jan'ni, Orroku, and Dante, had been a comfort to him, reassuring to the point that he felt he was learning how to be a better teacher from them.

And he was not one to reject freely-given help, not these days.

During the hours that he was gone, Rey trained on her own with a training droid she'd been supplied with by the Master's – regularly singeing it with her saber – went shopping for fresh produce at the local markets, and prepared everything so that Ben merely had to work a bit of his culinary magic when he got home in the late afternoon, and they'd have a lovely home-cooked meal over which to discuss the day's events.

After, they'd wander down the hall to Finn's apartment (as his had the biggest couch) and settle in for a thoroughly frivolous evening.

At first, Ben had sequestered himself to a dark corner during these hours (at least, once Rey had insisted on dragging him along, and he'd gotten tired of protesting), preferring to watch and listen, rather than get directly involved. But, in time, he grew comfortable with the group enough to join in.

Now, he could usually be found in the center of the action, with Rey sprawled across his lap.

The night usually ended when Rey started to doze off, at which point Ben always insisted on carrying her like a bride back down the hall to their apartment and their bed, whether she was awake enough to walk herself or not.

Sometimes they had energy enough to end their day panting and gasping and falling in love with each other all over again. Despite how physical a being Ben could be now that they were intimate, they found that they hardly had an insatiable hunger for each other.

Just a reasonable appetite.

Finn and Poe, on the other hand, argued they'd sooner give up breathing than stop kissing each other, and with that score, the dyad could hardly argue.

There was a ribbon of something new in their bond – different than their unity and their hopes and their eagerness combined.

It felt like a promise, thicker than beskar, stronger than kyber, and warmer and sweeter than Rey's favorite blend of white tea, and it demanded constant exploration and revelry in it.

Namely in the form of an excessive amount of kisses.

Maybe it had something to do with Ben's proposal, and the little shot of joy his declaration of love brought to Rey every time she recalled she was betrothed.

She was interrupted from her reverie by a frantic, pounding knock at the door.

Despite the fact that the war had been over for nearly two months, Rey's heart still leapt into her throat as she sprinted to the door, throwing on her downy-soft lounge robe over her navy pajamas and yanked it open.

Rose, hair in a messy bun and still donning her akimbo, teal, plush sleeping clothes, had the biggest grin on her face.

“You're coming with us, right?!” she exclaimed, holding a burgundy envelope and cream letter in her hand, identical to Rey's own.

Rey's look of distress made Rose's radiant smile fall.

“Forgive me, Rose, if I was kind of hoping for a few more months of privacy before everyone in the galaxy could recognize my face.”

Rose grimaced in understanding, the hand holding the letter falling to her side.

“I know. Finn and I have talked about the same thing too, but it's different for us – the people who care the most about our contributions to the war effort were the people in our divisions, in our squads. Given that they're our friends, we're hardly going to be worshipped by them.”

She sputtered her lips and wandered into the room at Rey's invitation.

“Of course, that's gonna change as soon as any news station catches wind of the story that Finn is an all-important rebel Storm Trooper that single-handedly rescued General Dameron, changing the course of the war as we know it.”

Rose plopped down onto Rey's velvet couch.

“Then, maybe we'll understand half of the attention you're going to get.”

Rey settled by her side with a half-hearted shrug.

“Ben and I discussed this too. But just because my fame is inevitable doesn't mean I'm going to be comfortable with it.”

Rose's hand came to rest on top of hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

“Well hey, look on the bright side. For the moment, no one knows your face – we can still go fancy dress shopping together.” Rey couldn't help but smile at Rose's eagerness.

She was just about the only person in the galaxy who could rival Rey's persistent, sunny personality, and Rey loved her for it.

“ _Aaaaand_ , you'll be able to knock Ben off his feet at the sight of how gorgeous you'll look!” Rose continued, wheedling like the master of the art of persuasion she was.

“Oh, Ben's already seen me in a ball gown.” Rey said, nonchalantly.

Rose's indignant gasp and slap at Rey's shoulder succeeded in making her jump with surprise.

“WHEN?! HOW?! _AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!_ ” she said, her shriek high and breathy, a clear indication of the laughter she was trying desperately to conceal.

“On Naboo!!” Rey shot back, her grin broad and bewildered “We had our own little ball as a final exam for my etiquette lessons.”

“You two are going to murder me with how adorable you are!! C'mon, give me the details – what were his _exact_ feelings?!” Rey chortled.

“His jaw fell open and his heart just about stopped!” She felt her cheeks warm rapidly with her blush “No one had ever looked at me like that before – as if no thing and no one in the galaxy could be more beautiful. He told me he loved me that night.”

Rose squealed.

“Stars, Rey, I wish I could've been there to see that!”

“I imagine he'll stare at me similarly tomorrow night.”

Rose bit her lip.

“ _Is that a yes?_ ” she said, voice just above a whisper.

“I'll have to talk it over with Ben tonight, but for the moment, I'll go shopping with you as if I am going to the ball.”

“ _Yes!!_ ” Rose exclaimed, leaping into Rey's arms and giving her the biggest bear hug. Rey returned it with equal zeal. “Have some breakfast and I'll meet you downstairs in an hour!” Rose exclaimed, already running out the door and sprinting down the hall.

Rey could only laugh and shake her head.

It had taken twenty-three years of her life, but now she finally understood what it was to have a sister.

* * * * * *

“I don't know, Rose. It's been nearly two hours and nothing is catching my eye,” called Rey from the opposite side of the changing room curtain in the luxury dress boutique. “I can always just wear the dark blue ballgown from Naboo again – it's not as if anyone besides Ben has seen me in it.”

Rose whipped back the curtain, emerging in a trailing cream gown.

“Absolutely not! He's used to you wearing that one, and I want to see him an-inch-away-from-feinting, star-struck!”

Rey snorted at Rose's indignation, standing beside the reject rack – to which Rey had contributed five gowns, and Rose eight.

“He's seen me in it once, that's hardly being used to it!”

Rose scrutinized herself in the mirror, squinting at her reflection.

“The skirt's a bit too big and frumpy I think – plus the next one shows real promise.” she said, picking up the layers of gauzy silk and making them float and flap. She returned to her spot behind the curtain with a smile.

“Mostly though,” she called out, as Rey continued her inspection of the racks of gowns within the showroom from a distance “I just want you to find something that you're happy with, that you feel confident and beautiful in. It would be unfair if I found an incredible dress and you didn't.”

Rey's smile took on a sentimental, pouty quality.

“Aw, Rose, that's too sweet of you. Really though, if you find something you love, by all means get it and enjoy yourself in it. Don't make yourself feel guilty like that. And at any rate, you haven't seen the gown I already have – I'm an absolute stunner in it.”

Rose emerged again, giggling.

“I'm positive you are,” she said, grinning sweetly until she caught sight of herself in the mirror and gasped. “Oh, that's the one,” she breathed, doing a little twirl.

“I think I have to agree,” Rey smiled, admiring the elegance of the a-line, sleeveless dress, the silky, curled ribbon cinching the layers of soft, floaty, pale pink-colored silk to her waist, allowing the rest to ripple down her legs to rest just above the tops of her toes.

She squealed in delight.

“I'll take it!” she said, rushing back into the dressing room to change back into her loose, olive ensemble.

Rey scanned the store one last time with a sigh.

Sure, there were no shortage of other outlets to explore, especially on a planet as affluent as Coruscant, but Rey hadn't the heart to make Rose go from store to store with no luck.

She just had a feeling she wasn't going to find the one today.

Everything was either too detailed or too sexy or too bedazzled for Rey's taste – especially for her first official, public appearance. She just wasn't a Coruscantian gal.

...And then her eyes settled on glittering piece set up on a mannequin in the store window.

She wandered closer, squinting and staring.

“Would you like to try it on, miss?” the blue Twi'lek store clerk offered, drifting up beside her.

“If it's not too much trouble,” Rey said, still a bit uncertain about the number that had caught her eye.

Upon gentle removal from the mannequin, Rey was discouraged to see it didn't provide a whole lot of coverage – the neckline was plunging and there was a broad dip in the back. But still, she had to admit the shade of silver went beautifully with her skin tone, and the shimmering rhinestone decor lended an appropriate amount of sparkle to the piece, dotting it like stars.

She accepted the gown graciously from the saleswoman and took up residence in the dressing room next to Rose's, warily ditching her street clothes again on the bench.

The gown was deliciously snug, fitting her like a glove. Upon donning it, Rey found the neckline wasn't quite so scandalous – she wasn't endowed enough for that to be a problem anyhow – but still showed off some skin.

She pulled back the curtain at the same moment as Rose.

Her own reflection made her do a double-take.

“If you don't buy that dress, I'll buy it for you,” Rose said, in an excited whisper, gaping at her.

Rey bit her lip, her smile triumphant.

If her goal had been to find something Ben would feint at the sight of her in, she had most definitely succeeded.

* * * * * *

After stopping by the produce stalls to buy the sweet peppers and tomatoes for the night's stew, Rey and Rose went back to their apartment, parting ways at their respective suites doors, sharing one last conspiratorial smile.

Arriving back far later than usual, Rey rushed about, prepping the veggies for Ben to cook.

She had just finished when the door flew open and he swept into the room, smile wide with excitement.

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from shrieking as she sent her shopping bag, dress gleaming within, careening into the hall closet.

She didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Fortunately, he paid no mind to the bag as it went flying as Ben only had eyes for her.

“AH! Ben!” she exclaimed as he raced over to her and swept her up into his arms, kissing her thoroughly, pliant and warm.

She was left feeling flushed and positively out of breath.

“I take it probation went unusually well, today,” she said, chuckling, coming up for air.

“I have the most wonderful news, starlight,” he said, kissing her on the tip of her nose.

She gasped.

“They've granted you the rank of Master early?!” He sighed slightly as he rushed about, throwing all the vegetables into a pot and setting them up to stew.

“Okay, maybe not _the_ most wonderful news, but it's a strong second.” She cocked her head to the side, ever curious.

“Do tell, my hearth.”

His boyish grin in place, he pulled a tiny remote – no bigger than a comm-link – out of his pant's pocket and clicked it.

A holograph node followed suit, zipping into the air and hovering over his ear like a helicopter droid, quietly whirring away.

“The Jedi Council has given me the perfect solution to your anonymity problem. Follow me.” he said, leading her out of the kitchen and down the hall.

“How exactly is a tiny holo-droid going to keep the galaxy from recognizing me?” Rey asked, genuinely confused. Ben stalled next to the full-length mirror in the hallway, letting her stand in front of it properly.

“Just watch.” he murmured, ever excited, as he pressed the remote's secondary button.

A digital array flared blue across Rey's face, projected from the little droid's projector lens. It mapped the shape of her face, identifying major muscle groups, bone structure, and placing dots at each key joint and reflex point.

“G5, engage glamour 2187.” Ben commanded, smirking. The tiny projector beeped in acknowledgment, extinguishing the light of the array, only the points remaining. Before Rey's very eyes, her face changed and the dots faded from view.

Her forehead grew smaller, her brow growing stronger as her eyes shrank a hair, moving just slightly further apart. Her nose lost a bit of its cute upturn, growing straighter and becoming more dramatic. Her lashes appeared longer, her freckles darker, her jawline stronger and her cheekbones softer.

In short, the subtle changes all combined together to create the face of a completely new person – both like Rey, and decisively not.

Her jaw fell open and Rey began feeling up her face, enraptured by her own reflection. Everything was still in its place physically, but the illusion was completely convincing.

“Now we can finally start responding to all your invitations, _and_ the whole galaxy won't be able to recognize your face,” said Ben, cheeky with pride. He winked “At least, not your real one, anyway. And of course,” he pressed the tertiary button. The holo-droid vanished from sight.

“It can cloak itself while it follows you around.”

Rey squealed and leapt into Ben's arms, squeezing his shoulders and making his essence zing with joy.

“I adore you – you and your brilliant mind!”

“To be fair, the council supplied the technology, I just gave them the idea.” he said, setting her back on her feet.

Her smile faltered for a moment.

“What about you? Did the Masters make two?” Ben's smile grew solemn.

“As a former Sith, I'm not allowed to disguise myself while I'm still on probation. Even if it was legally acceptable, I doubt the public would take kindly to the idea. It would be altogether too suspicious.”

Rey's smile faltered.

“But Ben...do the Master's understand the alternative, what you'd be facing? The public outrage, the attention, the complete loss of privacy?”

“Yes they do, Rey. They also plainly know that I was raised in that kind of limelight – I'm no stranger to it and I've been trained to handle it from birth, unlike you.” he said, affectionately cupping her cheek, though his mouth stayed set in a grim line.

“I'll be alright.” he said, though the slate gray and electric blue unease in his essence said otherwise. He stepped away, rolling his eyes.

“Besides, Bail's successor, Senator Jacquine, has been dying to introduce me at tomorrow's victory gala as the long-lost Prince of Alderaan.”

Rey smiled, but it was more akin to a cringe.

“Wouldn't want to rob him of the exclusive honor.” His laugh was a singular bark, but it had some warmth to it. He wrapped her up in his arms so warmly Rey swooned.

“And what have you been up today, Sun-Rey?” he mumbled against her lips, a ribbon of warmth flashing and swirling intoxicatingly in her belly as if on command. She had to pull away and return to the stove to take the stew off the heat, distracting herself from his persuasions, but he didn't let her stray further than within arm's reach.

“Dress shopping for said gala,” she said, quirking her eyebrows mysteriously as she ladled their dinner into bowls.

Ben helped himself to a slice of the loaf from the breadbox while he waited, not taking his eyes off her as he gnawed on the crust.

“You managed to find something gorgeous enough to stand a chance of competing with your beauty, I trust?”

“I guess you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out.” Rey said, winking.

The image that popped into her head as she sat down at the kitchen table with her own slice of bread, passing Ben his bowl, made her laugh.

“Do you think Senator Jacquine will insist you wear a cape?”

Ben groaned into his bowl, making her chortle.

“If my childhood memories serve me correctly, yes. It's a staple of the regalia for blue-blooded Alderaanian men.”

Rey blushed at the thought of how lucky she'd be to have such a looker on her arm.

“Never fear, my Prince, we'll suffer through the evening of excess together,” she said, reaching across the table and placing her free hand on his, softening the jest.

His dark eyes bored into hers and she mentally braced herself for what was coming.

_Yes, and after, I'll be sure to tear that lovely gown off of you and engage in a bit of indulgence, myself. You're at your most gorgeous when you aren't wearing anything, anyhow._

Despite her best efforts, Rey still couldn't resist the slight shiver at his words.

Ben grinned over his glass of blue milk.

“You're getting better at throwing up your walls, Rey,” Ben commended, retreating from her thoughts in the bond, her heady feelings still very acute to him.

He grinned lasciviously.

“Somehow, though, I get the feeling you aren't trying very hard.”

Rey glowered and yanked her hand away.

“Talk like that, before dinner's finished? Benjamin Solo, what has become of you?”

“Well, Ms. Solo, perhaps you've acclimated me to the view that there's more to life than my ever-pressing appetite?”

“Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?!”

His laugh was boisterous, goofy, and beautiful.

“I think you can figure out the answer to that one without reading my mind.”

* * * * *

She'd done it again.

She'd started her afternoon training late, and now she was running around at top-speed, slipping and sliding over the polished floorboards in the apartment as she rushed about, getting ready for the gala.

It had been like this every time Ben had taken her out dancing, or for a fancy dinner, or to the cinema, or whisked her off to participate whatever luxurious, extravagant, hair-brained scheme came to his mind (needless to say, taking the entire gang to casino district [especially Rose] had not been the best idea).

In Rey's opinion, their best date had been the simplest, when they'd just walked the streets of Coruscant at night, savoring each other's company and talking about everything and nothing under the twinkling lights.

But the handful of time's after that she'd suggested he keep things similarly simple, he wouldn't hear of it.

Every time, he'd give the same answer.

“Sun-Rey, if I could give you the galaxy, I would,” he'd murmured, nuzzling into her neck, his lips teasing at her skin, sending her pulse galloping.

“You certainly tried to,” she'd hiccupped, her voice caught between a chuckle and a sigh.

“It's my deepest desire that you want for nothing,” he whispered in her ear, the promise steadfast where his voice wavered “That I give you a full and wondrous life – holistic, and exciting, and new, and ours to share.” he purred.

And each time he said something like that, how could she not be instantly charmed, and possibly say no to him sweeping her off her feet?

As she rearranged the contents of her vanity, assembling the necessary makeup for her look tonight, her grin was wide and uncontrollable. And now, they could announce their intentions to the galaxy at large.

Not that the publicity mattered a lick to her.

No, it was more of a fulfillment of a 'shout-it-from-the-rooftops' desire that had been thrumming in her chest every day since he'd asked her to be his.

It felt like there was truly a constant in her life that she could rely on and trust, after years of aimless uncertainty. That kind of promise, that reassurance, was so rare, so beautiful, she wanted to share it.

Though, she mused, as she swept on her lipstick in smooth strokes, rubbing her lips together to even out the sienna-red tone, it had been more than enough to simply share it with her friends, at first.

Finn's and Poe's jaws had just about hit the floor when Rey had flashed the ring at them on their last day on Naboo.

“You've got to be joking...” Poe had murmured, breathily, running a bewildered hand through his hair.

“It's not as if we're tying the knot tomorrow Poe – likely not even for a few years!” Rey exclaimed, though the severity with which she was making the promise was lost on them, due to her twin-sun smile.

“Rey, are you sure about this? And Re – Solo, you're not just doing this as gesture or something? You're seriously committing?” Finn had asked, head whipping between them.

“She's my partner in the Force, Finn – my equal and opposite. Why would I ever go looking for someone else? She has me, heart and soul.” Ben had said in earnest, prompting Rey to leap into his arms and fix him with another breathless kiss, making him chortle in elation – thoroughly disturbing Finn in the process.

“When you stop and think about how the Force has already connected us, the promise to get married in the future is hardly even that serious in comparison.” Rey had added.

“Hopefully not too far in the future,” Ben had murmured, earning a smack in the gut from his fiancé.

Poe threw up his hands and walked away.

“Congratulations, you cross-wired astro-droids!” he had yelled, returning to the _Falcon_ 's cockpit, where, upon hearing the news, Chewie had come roaring from the front of the ship to give both Ben and Rey back-breaking hugs, and chuff his approval at the promised union.

Ironically, Rose had given them both very much the same treatment upon their arrival in Coruscant.

Finn had begrudgingly rolled his eyes and walked away at the time, but with his weekly lessons in Force training, he was starting to become aware of just how much he didn't know.

In short, he, in his own words, “wasn't about to attempt to understand the mysteries of the universe moving through the two of them.” So long as they were happy, he was fine with it.

Now of course, she'd be sharing the news with quite a few more people – closer to how she wanted the whole galaxy to know how lucky she was.

But that was quite far from the heart of things, Rey thought, as she zipped up the dress and strapped on her sturdy, bronze-toned dancing heels.

She wanted to do something that declared to the universe at large that it was the two of them, ad inifitum.

Barring actually getting married immediately, of course.

As much as Ben, likewise, had her whole heart, she still felt she was too young to be making that kind of promise. She at least wanted to see what living with him long-term was like, and if they could work together as Jedi Masters, teaching younglings, before they chose a date.

Kids. A family of their own.

Her essence smoldered at the thought, starting a family with her Ben – a feeling of belonging and building a home, that which she'd been pursuing her entire life. Something in her inherently burned to bring her own flesh and blood into the world and nurture it and raise it to be something beautiful – and who better to father her children than he?

But again, her logical mind reminded her of her age and how she was rushing things, how there was no way she was ready for motherhood, how they'd been terribly lucky to get away with being unprotected the first time, and how they were being extra careful now. She swept into the kitchen and downed her pill with a sip of water, her reverie serving as an apt reminder.

Yelping at the time on the kitchen clock, she raced back down to the hall closet to gather her faux fur coat about her. She'd grown to love the soft, white thing, but not just for the texture, but the fullness of it that could hide any drop-dead gorgeous outfit from view.

She gathered up her hair last, already having curled it into elegant coils, she gathered them at crown of her head and pinned them into something of a half-up, half-down style.

Rey had no doubt the universe would provide her with the answer to all her questions in time – for the moment, what mattered more was savoring and celebrating their love themselves.

As if on cue, Ben swept into the apartment – dress clothes from Senator Jacquine in a protective travel bag – racing past her to his room (which he seldom occupied, but they'd agreed it would be smart to keep separate closets for the time being), brushing a quick kiss of greeting against her temple.

“I'll just be a minute!” he yelled, black mop of hair whipping around the door frame as he disappeared.

Rey could only smother her chuckle. The two of them together were the most perpetually late people she knew.

She counted out a minute or two and then mischievously sauntered into the room after him.

Her essence dipping into a sultry shade of burgundy made him look up from the closet mirror, eyes slightly wide.

“Don't get any ideas, starlight, we're already running late as it is.” he muttered, admittedly charmed by her obvious attraction. She sighed languidly, and the sound made his aura flash fuchsia with desire, and warmth coiled in his stomach, despite himself.

“Fine. But that cape's coming off the second we get back.” Despite his best efforts, Ben's fingers slipped on the chords for his short shoulder cape, and he fumbled the knot, having to redo it.

“I'd appreciate it if you would stop trying to devour me with your eyes,” Ben said, sternly though he was flushing profusely.

Rey huffed and walked up to him, taking the ties from his fingers and rapidly knotting them into a neat bow.

“Is a wife not allowed to ogle her husband?” she murmured, running her fingers over his shoulders, admiring the Alderaan regalia of a dark mauve tunic and pants and velvet emerald cape, all trimmed sparingly with gold. “Especially when he looks this good?” she said, stretching up and fixing him with a kiss.

The platinum spike in his aura dazzled her, and he was panting when they parted.

“Force, Rey, isn't it a little too soon to be calling me that?”

Rey dropped her seductive act, turning pensive, her aura cooling to a deep, cerulean blue.

“If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll stop. But in fairness, I already think of you as that – and I'm pretty sure the Force does as well.”

He just about melted in her arms.

“No, Rey, please don't stop,” he mumbled against her mouth, pressing a searing kiss against her that made her want to take back her promise not to seduce him. Quickly though, he pulled away and led her from the room by her hand, his urgency beating across their bond, the sultry moment vanished like a cloud of smoke.

“How late are we running exactly?” Rey asked, hurrying to keep pace with her long-legged fiancé as he checked his pockets for the glamour droid and remote, and she locked the penthouse door behind them with the Force.

“Ask me when we get there,” he said, grinning worriedly as they raced to the elevators and plunged to the ground floor.

The hovercraft was waiting for them at street level, the droid driver readily opening the luxury vehicles doors as Ben flashed the newly embedded ID chip in his wrist at the passenger-side rear-view mirror.

“Welcome Ben Solo and guest, please be seated. We will be arriving at the Victory Gala shortly.” chirruped the droid from the driver's seat as they slid into the luxurious suede seats.

“Thank you, VD-7.” Rey said, the reflex still there from her time spent dealing with more vivacious droids like BB-8 and R2.

The valet turned his oblong head back towards the road, and the second they were strapped in, the craft lifted up and took off, cruising through the sky-way towards the city-center.

Rey glanced around modestly – it was her first time in a limousine, but after spending a month living in a palace with character and surrounded by gorgeous natural landscape, she wasn't one to admire the flash-in-the-pan glitz of modern architecture or sleek design.

Besides, she felt far too nervous to try any of the fruity alcoholic drinks from the self-serve machine in the center console anyway.

Ben pulled the glamour droid from his pocket, and Rey turned attentively to face him.

“It's probably best if we set up G5 now – I worry the press might be waiting for us when we get there,” he said, activating the tiny droid, a nervous spike of yellow acutely appearing in his aura.

“Agreed,” Rey murmured, staring ahead so the laser array could align with her face properly.

In a moment, it was done, and Ben was staring at a subtly different version of his fiancé.

“Is it weird, for me not to look like myself?” she asked as he stowed the remote after camouflaging the little glamour droid.

“Very,” he said, reaching across the gap between them to stroke her cheek, his fingertips tracing the path of the cheekbone he knew, not the one his eyes saw. “But, considering I designed the disguise, it's just close enough that it's still you.”

His eyes darkened, smoldering with affection.

“My Rey,” he murmured, prompting Rey to press a kiss against his palm, making him chuckle.

She had half a mind to sidle into his lap and see if she couldn't kiss him properly when she felt the vehicle begin to slow.

“Approaching destination,” VD-7 called from the front. Rey sighed lightly.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered, earning a squeeze of her hand from Ben as the hovercraft came to a stop and her heart started to race.

The press' flashbulbs started going off immediately upon Ben stepping out and holding the door open for her.

Rey was positively blinded, and didn't know where to turn as everyone yelled for her to “look this way, miss!” She smiled her practiced cheesy smile, and trusted Ben to guide her by the hand through the chaos to the front door and the sanctity of the hall. The auras on her corneas took a few minutes to fade, even as they walked down the hallway to the main ballroom.

_Okay?_ he asked, staring at her watery eyes nervously. Her smile was small, but genuine and radiant in response to his concern.

 _The flashes from the press' camera's just overwhelmed me a little,_ she said, finally blinking back her tears. _I'll be just fine._ She squeezed his elbow, her arm tucked neatly in his. _After all, I've got you._

Ben shot her a doting smile as they turned the corner and were met by a stiff-looking, middle-aged guard in a navy suit, barring entry to the ballroom.

“Invitations?” he asked, his accent nasal and slightly prudish, but not unkind. Ben handed over the cream letterheads, wordlessly.

Upon reading the name on his invitation, the officiant gave Ben a low bow.

“Prince Organa-Solo, it is an honor to meet you at last. I was so glad to hear you would be succeeding your mother after so many years of absence from the public eye to pursue your studies. I'll send for Senator Jacquine at once to announce you.”

Rey couldn't help but grin teasingly at the use of the title, to which Ben had to roll his eyes, if quickly and subtly.

The guard glanced mildly at Rey's invitation as he turned to leave to find the Senator and did a double-take, eyes going wide.

He dropped down onto his knees.

“Ms. Skywalker-!” he stammered, suddenly quite flushed “Forgive me, I did not realize I was in your presence! You have my utmost thanks for all you've done for the galaxy-”

Rey quickly broke with ceremony and extricated herself from Ben, bending down to shush the officiant.

“Please, sir, that isn't necessary.” she said, reaching for his arm in an attempt to lift him back into a standing position. The guard followed her lead, quite perplexed.

“Really – I found myself caught up in the war entirely circumstantially, and simply did what I thought was right.” Rey explained, “And...it's Ms. Solo, actually.” she said, bringing up her left hand, bearing her engagement ring, to rest on Ben's arm as well, making her point clear.

Her statement softened the man's confusion.

“I see. Um...” he dropped their invitations into a collection box, the letterheads vanishing through the slot. “I'll...go collect Senator Jacquine, shall I?”

“That would be great, thank you,” answered Ben, gracefully.

“And...congratulations, of course,” said the officiant, and with that, the man turned on his heels and walked stiffly into the ballroom after knocking crisply on the double doors and being allowed a modest entrance – the door no doubt flanked by armed guards on the other side.

Rey let out a massive sigh.

“Somehow, I get the feeling we're only getting started,” she murmured. Ben gently took the hand at his elbow in his and gave it a squeeze.

“It'll be alright, my love,” he muttered low, his breathy baritone timbre soothing her. “It'll be just like I taught you – like we practiced dozens of times. Jacquine will announce us, I'll enter first and head down the stairs, and you'll follow. Someone by the door will take your coat, and you'll float down to meet me, the picture of loveliness, and I'll be sure not to let go of you for the rest of the night.” he said, affectionate and grinning impishly.

“And you'll do most of the talking with the guests,” Rey taunted back, making his essence glow with brilliant rose.

Senator Jacquine practically burst through the double-doors, grasping Ben about the shoulders fiercely, making them both start from their banter.

Jacquine, despite being a salt-and-pepper war veteran, well into his fifties, and a widower, had more enthusiasm and the heartiest zest for life Ben had ever encountered in a person.

He was also six and a half feet tall and insisted in speaking about ten decibels louder than was strictly necessary at all times.

“Benjamin Solo, my boy, capital that you could make it!!” Jacquine said, grasping Ben's hand with bone-breaking force.

“Good to see you too, Jacquine,” Ben said, wincing as his hand was released from its iron prison.

“And is this the fiancé you spoke of! – Ms. Skywalker, the pleasure is all mine.” The senator dipped into an entirely juxtaposed, graceful bow, grazing a swift kiss against the knuckles of Rey's left hand. He rose, smiling broadly.

“She is indeed positively radiant, your highness, I must admit your description was perfect! Alright then, lovebirds, the galaxy is dying to meet you two – I suggest we don't keep them waiting!!” Jacquine said, turning with a flourish to face the doors, and rapping them smartly.

The guards opened the double doors with a flourish, the three of them stepping inside, more or less at once, Jacquine a few steps ahead on the landing. Any smatterings of conversation from below stilled almost instantly.

“It is my greatest pleasure and honor to announce the return of Alderaan's Prince to our humble city!” boomed Senator Jacquine's voice, as Ben swept forward to the landing's edge, cape swishing behind him. “Please give a warm welcome home to Benjamin Organa-Solo, son of our late, beloved Senator Organa!”

Ben proceeded down the red velvet staircase to bronze-toned marble tiles below, greeted by polite, warm applause, and few low whoops he recognized. His attention darted in the direction of the sound, and he caught sight of Poe, Finn, and Rose – all dressed in their finery – standing in a cluster in the middle of the crowd.

He shot them the subtlest of smiles as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

He acknowledged the attention of the crowd with a gracious nod, hands behind his back, and then turned in a sweeping arc to face the top of the stairs, waiting with bated breath.

Jacquine's voice took on a more sober tone as an attendant whisked away Rey's fur coat – it maybe even became slightly softer, as his gentle green gaze came to rest on her.

“His Highness is the consort for tonight's guest of honor. This fierce, brave...exceptional woman needs no introduction. I humbly present, Rey Solo of Jakku.”

She emerged over the lip of the landing, dress aglow like the light of a thousand stars, smile soft and radiant.

The blinding light of the vision consumed Ben in an instant.

The world became a wash of the soft colors of night – the dark and deep blues and violets that brought on somber comfort. Dimly, his mind perceived what could have been the twinkling, distant lights of a city skyline, glittering in the dark.

But he could hardly do more than note such details as the immaculately carved white balcony, or the warm breeze playing with his hair.

He only had eyes for the vision before him.

Rey's hair was long and loose, reaching well past her shoulders. Her expression was calm, and the smile she sent his way was gentle and lovely, if laced with a bit of a weary exertion. She wore nothing more complicated than a long, white linen dress with a few overlapping, rippling layers, but she was positively aglow.

Her skin had a warm, healthy, golden hue, and her eyes were filled with so much light and happiness that he was positively knocked breathless by it. His wife, his heart, his dearest love, and she was gazing at him so.

But the sight that positively set his soul ablaze was the noticeable bump under her gown, the sight of her full and round with life, gorgeous in motherhood. He instantly knew the child was theirs and the thought made him lightheaded and delirious with joy. His legs longed to run to her and embrace her, hold her as tight and close as he could, fall to his knees in front of her and reverently kiss her belly until she dissolved into a fit of adorable giggles – but he remained firmly frozen in place, reeling.

He didn't think the Force had ever shown him anything that he had wanted so much.

And stars above, he was going to do everything in his power to make this dream come true.

He could only pray that she would want this future as much as he. His heart would surely break otherwise.

The world returned in a flood of warm color, reality slipping back in as Rey's hand slid into his.

She'd arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

He numbly moved her hand to the crook of his arm and turned to lead her into the crowd, making a b-line for their friends, his heart still pounding against his rib cage, knees slightly wobbly.

She felt it instantly of course – as his other half, she knew everything.

 _Are you okay?_ her soft, candid voice, dripping with concern, had unspeakable power over him in that moment. He silently hoped she'd accept the unsatisfactory answer he had to give and ask no more questions.

 _I promise I'll tell you everything later – this really isn't the best time,_ he murmured, short of breath even in his head.

Rey grimaced, but thankfully, let the issue drop. She fluttered free from his grasp and approached Rose at a subtle canter, proceeding to squeal above a whisper about how he'd been positively gobsmacked by her appearance.

Ben started at the friendly smack at his shoulder – Dameron.

“Lookin' awfully fancy, your highness,” said Poe, ever the perpetual flirt with everyone, the use of the title clearly laced with sarcasm.

Ben huffed with slight laughter, trying to wrestle his mind back to the present moment.

“It was Senator Jacquine's choice of wardrobe – I absolutely had no say in the matter.” Poe cringed in sympathy.

“Well, I guess it could've be more flowery,” he muttered, a passable equivalent for words of reassurement.

“I'm sure I'll survive the next few hours,” Ben agreed, lips quirking in the smallest of smiles. Poe nodded and moved away to give Rey a sweeping bow of greeting and kiss her hand.

Finn stepped up next to him.

“What just happened?” he murmured, keeping his expression relaxed though his eyes bored into Ben's “The Force moved around you like you were standing in the eye of a hurricane.”

“It saw fit to give me a vision,” Ben muttered back, keeping his eyes firmly on Rey, not letting her escape his sight. The last thing he wanted was to throw her to the wolves wandering the marble floors that night.

“What did you see?” Finn gasped, concern peaked.

Ben forced himself not to glare – a nearly impossible task.

“Nothing that concerns you, just Rey and I.” he said, steely tone of voice making clear that Finn should drop the issue.

“Fine, I understand, you have your secrets,” said Finn, holding up placating hands “Just...if you need someone to talk to that isn't Rey – someone who also understands the Force...” he trailed off, uncertain.

Ben unexpectedly felt his mood brighten, and his expression softened.

...After everything they'd been through, somehow still...

“I think I'll be alright, but...thank you.” And Ben was sure to meet Finn's eyes as he spoke so that he knew he meant it.

Rey floated back to his side and they proceeded to wander amongst the rest of the crowd without ceremony.

They greeted most senators and important dignitaries, but the dyad didn't linger too long with anyone. They switched the task between them of exchanging pleasantries and making small-talk, and passed the time talking across their bond – taking cracks at the absurd and extravagant outfits of the guests, Ben giving gentle reminders to Rey about her posture and the names of crucial guests, and a mutual flood of sweet nothings.

_My Prince, you make this all worthwhile,_ Rey murmured in his head, her voice like a loving siren song to him.

They'd wandered the circumference of the hall, and now were leaned against a back wall, taking a breather and standing back to just observe.

 _Not hardly, Sun-Rey, seeing you dressed like this and experiencing what it's like to have the breath knocked from my lungs all over again –_ that _is what makes it worth it,_ he purred in response, unapologetically doting.

She shot a tiny grin his way.

_Be-en, you're making me blush!_

_And why shouldn't I? You're adorable when you're flustered._

She playfully smacked at his hand, though her arm didn't leave the crook of his.

_You're entirely too much tonight!_

Fortunately, the servers emerging from the kitchens with platters of food and drink distracting Ben from turning her red with sugary compliments.

Rey, starving, followed her stomach.

Unfortunately Ben, ever the gentlemen, saw fit to go after drinks first.

And just like that, the two were separated.

The crowd swarmed around the waiters with their silver trays. Fortunately, Rey was able to grab a shellfish cocktail and a small plate of sandwiches, enough to sate her before the crowd swallowed her. She retreated to a tall table, intended to be eaten at while standing around, only realizing then that she'd completely misplaced her fiancé.

Rey hardly had reason to panic, though.

She'd have to travel through hyperspace to another galaxy, 30 parsecs over, before Ben could lose her entirely.

“Pray-tell, is it true?!” quipped a bubbly female voice, making Rey jump and turn towards it.

A mousy girl in an iridescent peahen-blue dress had seen fit to join Rey at her table, standing across from her, elbows propped on the tabletop conspiratorially.

The feathers in her hair and the wide, piercing eyes completed the impression that a strange, skinny bird had come to roost in her nest.

“Whatever do you mean, madam?” Rey stammered, just barely remembering her manners.

The girl didn't have to do much explaining, as when she caught sight of the engagement ring on Rey's left hand, she gasped monstrously.

“So it is true! I thought I'd misheard when you were announced! The hero of the galaxy, and marrying a prince – you must be the luckiest girl in the Republic!” she squeaked, her voice high and buoyant, though a bit tiresome to listen to.

“Ah – thank you...” Rey said, growing uncomfortable from the attention, hoping Ben would get back to her soon.

“ _Anna!_ ” squealed another voice from behind Rey. Rey whipped around to catch sight of the peahen-girl's twin, her fiery red up-do and frumpy pink gown making her more reminiscent of a fiery king-fisher. “ _I thought I told you not to speak to her without me!_ ” she whined.

“I'm sorry Dezzy, but I just couldn't wait!” exclaimed the girl, apparently named Anna.

“Did you ask her yet?” probed the fiery-fisher, voice dropping low.

“Ask me what, pray-tell?” Rey said, raising herself to her full height, and making the two jabbering jays flinch.

Anna glanced about before she answered, whispering.

“There have been some rather nasty rumors going around...about your _future husband._ ”

“I read that he hasn't been away studying at all,” Dezzy added, also at a murmur “But that he was in disguise-”

“Working for the _First Order_ ,” the peahen hissed.

Alarm klaxons started going off in Rey's head.

“And not just as some commander-”

“No how!-”

“But as a far higher ranking official-”

“ _Emperor Snoke's right-hand man, the worst of them all!_ ” the fiery-fisher snarled.

Then they both grinned at her like hungry Nexus.

“Care to confirm even a _tiny_ piece of these stories?” Anna asked, voice suddenly high and girlish again.

Rey was past bristling.

She was fuming with anger.

“How _dare_ you speak about my fiancé that way!” Rey said, voice low, despite her fury, though it didn't stay that way for long. “I'll have you know, Ben Solo is a good man, and always has been! The stories you speak of are rumors – nothing more! And _if I ever hear tell of you spreading such slander again-_ ”

She shoulders were seized by familiar hands, and she let Ben cart her away.

Not before shooting the two gossips a glare heated enough to set their coiffed, neon hair aflame (if only in Rey's mind).

_Not that I don't adore the sight of you defending me so fiercely, starlight, but I must ask you not to do that in the future._

_The audacity of them! Even if the public did know you were Kylo Ren, you were cleared of all charges! I can't believe-_

_Sweetheart, they were trying to egg you on. They're a duo of the city's worst gossip writers._

Rey froze and her anger fizzled away, leaving frustration in its wake.

_I fell pray to the manipulations of reporters?_

_To be fair, it is the one thing I didn't train you to watch out for – we'll consider this a fault on my part and I'll teach you to be prepared next time. Now come on, let's eat, and then Jacquine insisted we lead at least once dance before we go._

The dyad wandered over to pair of servers fresh from the second round out of the kitchen, and collected enough food and drink to satisfy them. After circling the crowd for a few minutes, they locked eyes with Poe and he waved them over to the table he'd claimed for the group.

After sharing succinctly the details of confrontation by the gossip reporters, Rose sympathetic to Rey's anger and discomfort, Rey eased up they began to chatter away as easily as if they were back home in their apartment. Poe and Finn kept making inside jokes at Ben's past alter ego's expense as they traded battle stories that they could only laugh about now with the gift of hindsight – and even Rey had to snort at the memories of Kylo Ren's flashy bravado. Rose gladly recounted the now famous tale of her and Finn's failure on Canto Bite, the most legendary misadventure in the whole armada – delighting and horrifying Ben in turns as every bit of good luck was followed by another dreadful choice, up to the plan falling apart single-handedly, because of a First Order droid.

Their raucous laughter drew more than a few eyes, but Rey couldn't care less.

She was finally right where she'd always wanted to be, beyond the war, and with her family.

Eventually, the pilot squad was dragged away by none other than Lando Calrissian, wanting to introduce the young veterans to a few of his famous associates, and the dyad were able to finish their drinks in companionable silence for a brief spell.

...At least until Jacquine came over and joined them, but even Rey had to admit the loud, jovial man was growing on her.

“And let me tell you – I had the time of my life fighting alongside that Lando Calrissian! To this day I can't believe that old star ship of his stayed in one piece!” Jacquine said, roaring with laughter as he recounted his stories from the days of his rebellion.

“You and me both, Senator,” quipped Ben, wiping his mouth clean with a corner of his napkin, eyes rolling slightly.

“But honestly, that's enough about me – tell me Benjamin, Ms. Skywalker, have you picked out a date yet?”

Ben had picked the wrong moment to take a sip of his Chardonnay, spluttering.

He coughed his lungs back into working order, Rey flushing scarlet herself at the question.

“We haven't exactly thought that far along, Senator. In a way, we're already committed to one another in the engagement – by simply being with one another.” Rey gently explained, finding it difficult to elaborate while dancing around the subject of the Force.

“Exactly,” Ben added, hoarsely “we're in no rush.”

Jacquine quirked a mischievous, conspiratorial eyebrow.

“And yet, you asked her to marry you, anyway...” Ben sighed, turning red.

“You have to understand, Jacquine, our relationship came to be as result of...frankly bizarre and unusual circumstances.”

“ _HA!_ You and every couple in the galaxy. Try me, your highness – I've yet to hear anything truly shocking in all my years as Alderaan's consulate.” he said, leaning in close.

“And how many years would that be, Senator?” Rey teased, making the man glower, though the twinkle in his eyes only burned brighter. She dropped the jest and enumerated.

“In the Force, Ben and I are equals and opposites. We're...perfectly matched, shall we say?” Rey said, squinting in Ben's direction, looking for his assent.

“We're a pairing ordained by the Force, to speak a bit more technically.” he continued, soberly and vulnerably. “Two that are one...”

His hand came to rest softly on top of hers, gently stroking her fingers, glancing over the ring he'd forged for her himself, his tender touch warming her thoroughly.

Jacquine smiled at them, nostalgic and kind.

“Well, I don't know much about the Force, myself. I took more after your father in that way, Benjamin, ever the realist, relying on my wits. But, what you two speak of isn't unlike the old concept of soulmates. It's quite burgeoning to hear that there's still a bit of old-fashioned love to go around in the galaxy, I must say.

“No matter what date you choose, or how far ahead, I wish you both the best of luck,” he said, clasping them both by the shoulder. “And please, invite me if there's room on the list – keep in mind, I am an ordained officiant!”

A slight whir of strings from the corner alerted the three of them that the quintet band was about to play their first number of the night. The dance floor cleared.

“Would you two mind leading the first dance of the night? If you did, I think I'd be able to let you sneak out a bit early.” Jacquine murmured, releasing them.

The dyad nodded readily and made their way onto the floor, Rey lifting up into her dance posture easily – gazing at Ben in a way that made his Force positively purr.

The Coruscantian Waltz rose to greet their ears, and the two whirled easily across the dance floor in the practiced routine.

They spun in tighter and tighter circles, and the hall quickly became a blur of motley darkness and twinkling golden lights as they became lost to each other's gravity.

Rey even went so far as to rest her head on his chest – after all, it felt as if they were the only two people in the room, if for just a brief moment.

_This is the one thing I wish we did more often,_ Rey said, sighing in his mind.

_Dance together?_

_Mmmhmm..._ she murmured, soft and sweet enough to enchant him instantly.

_We don't need the excuse of a gala to dance together. You need only ask, my darling wife._

Despite the fact that he was whispering in her mind, she had to gasp at his use of the title as he spun her out under his arm, and then carried her through a difficult lift.

_Weren't you saying, only a few hours ago, that we shouldn't call each other that?!_

_I've a right to change my mind, don't I? The sound of it is growing on me – my Rey, my wife,_ his soul was positively sighing in delight.

 _It sounds utterly wonderful_ , his dark eyes said, speaking of all his adoration at once.

Stars, she was going to melt in his arms and end up a giant puddle on the floor.

She let his Force wrap around her, and she clutched him tight in return.

_Ben, I love you so much..._

He didn't dare kiss her in public, not with so many vultures watching them and now circling them on the dance floor too, but he wasn't above resting his cheek on the crown of her head for a moment.

_And I love you so, Rey..._

Their essences swirled as they did, winding and spiraling and colliding like comets striking wayward moons – a fireworks display that only the initiated could catch sight of. As it was, only Finn could catch a vague glimmer, especially when he was fixated on dancing with Rose.

Ben dipped Rey low as they neared the end of their dance cycle, and when he lifted her up, her mind exploded just as suddenly as Ben's had, in a vision.

She burst out of the warm water, gasping and sitting up.

The room she was in had a craggy ceiling speckled with starlight and a pool that glowed blue from within and reached up to her waist.

But beyond the bright details, her senses were consumed with the sight in front of her. She was in Ben's sturdy arms, clutched tight, and they were both stark nude.

He was on her in a second, kissing her breathless, sloppy and wet and wanting. He pressed her tight against him, and the feeling of his raging, rock-hard arousal made her mewl against his mouth with desire.

He'd felt amazing against her before, but never quite like this.

“ _Rey! Rey, please..._ ” he groaned, gently nudging against her entrance.

Just one little poke and Rey knew her body wanted everything.

“ _Dearest, you don't have to beg – I want you just as much,_ ” she whispered, teasing herself apart with him and shivering at the contact, at the shear wetness of her arousal. He needed no further invitation, he shuddered and eased himself inside her, crying out at the feeling of utter completeness – soul alive and alight, sparking and gleaming.

“ _Rey, my Rey, I want you so much!_ ” he whimpered, sliding in and out of her, glancing off of her most pleasurable spot and sending her reeling. He growled in pleasure, collapsing against her neck as he stroked into her. “ _Stars, I want to start a family with you! I want to conceive our first child here – tonight!_ ”

Rey, despite the waves of pleasure, was ripped from the reverie by confusion and wonder instead.

“ _Ben, are you serious? You never said anything about wanting a family this much. And now you want me to have your babies?_ ”

She could feel him tremble and slow down – it took all his effort to not come undone instantly at her words.

“ _Yes, Rey, I want to fill you up with life – I want us to make our own little one together and watch them grow._ ” he said, grasping at her face, the wonder-lust plain in his eyes. One hand fell away to rub her stomach gently, the house of her life-giving reproductive system.

“ _Force, you're going to be such an amazing mother..._ ”

Still confused, but no less charmed or aroused, Rey could no sooner fight the pleasure of his ministrations as his fingers dipped lower and mercilessly circled her sensitive pearl than she could fight the pull of the Force.

She collapsed against his shoulder, shaking with pleasure, moaning and gasping, keening for release as she bounced against him – faster and faster, chasing her release, until she ascended, becoming nothing but pure pleasure with him, as her sight bloomed with light and a single word cemented itself in her consciousness:

_Adstrum_

She came to with a violent gasp, the world spinning as she smacked against Ben's shoulder.

The string quintet had finished their piece and the guests were applauding, but the Force was far from done. The overwhelming pleasure Rey'd felt was chasing after her still, rising higher and higher, even as Rey did nothing to prompt it.

It was not unlike a wet dream finishing of its own accord, despite the dreamer waking.

And Ben, wide-eyed, could sense it all.

As inconspicuously as he could, he lifted Rey off her feet, letting her slump against him, her head staying against his shoulder, and carried her swiftly through the crowd, pushing through a set of glass doors to the nearest vacant balcony. He laid her down, and she clutched at his tunic desperately like a life-line.

“ _Rey, what's happening?!_ ” he exclaimed, unable to hold back his concern a moment longer as he clutched her hands, crouching behind her, her head coming to rest on his chest.

“ _Hold me..._ ” was all Rey managed to whisper before she toppled over the edge. Their bond exploded with her pleasure, a white-hot burst of light that made even his mind spin with its power – though his Force seemed to have had the wherewithal to block her orgasm out of his mind. And a good thing too, it was overwhelming, colossal to the point of it being unnatural. Poor Rey was spasming and wailing, and could do little more than ride out the tsunami, squirming against his shoulder.

“ _Kriff – Ben it's TOO MUCH!_ ” Rey cried, the aftershocks making her jerk about against him, panting and mewling.

“I've got you Rey, I've got you. It's going to be okay.” he said, holding tight to her, and gently kissing the top of her head, even as his mind panicked with confusion and a bit of fear.

Eventually though, the aftershocks decreased in quantity and strength, and Rey was able to catch her breath.

“Starlight, talk to me...” Ben said, clutching her cheek and trying to smooth her hair back from her forehead damp with sweat.

“Force vision,” Rey answered, with a grimacing smile. Ben's eyes turned as round and large as Death Stars.

“A Force vision did that to you?” She nodded.

“We should head home and talk.”

“Agreed.”

Rey, despite her weary, after-glow-ridden body, found herself laughing.

“I think...I'm going to have to take a rain check...on stripping you of that cape tonight,” she gasped, smiling up at him, reassuring him that she would be alright.

“Of course, Sun-Rey, of course.” he said, pressing his nose gently to hers. “I wouldn't dream of it after that.”

“You might have to help me walk out of here,” Rey said, shuddering slightly as she eased herself into a sitting position, her body still a sensitive live-wire.

He lent her his arm to lean on and helped her back inside and through the crowd, slow and steady, though each step still sent a miniature shock of pleasure through her that he felt in their bond and desperately ignored.

All it had taken was the first time for her pleasure to become an instant turn-on for him – but each consecutive time had only solidified further how much feeling everything she felt made him ache.

Nodding conspiratorially in Senator Jacquine's direction, the pair took their leave without any trouble.

They knew their friends would likely be cross with them – but they'd explain everything to them in time.

Finn, at least, would understand.

The cab was swift and punctual, and within a matter of minutes they were back in their suite and Ben turned off and stowed G5, and Rey could lay down.

Though it was more like she collapsed...

“ _Kriff_ , it's impossible to walk without my legs rubbing together...” she complained, the whine of pleasure in her voice impossible to ignore, though Ben did everything he could to, counting backwards in his head to calm himself.

“What did you see, my kyber?” Ben said, pulling up a chair beside the couch.

“Nothing particularly concrete about the location, or the time it was meant to be...” she muttered, trying to recall the details. “Some sort of glittering cave, and a pool of water...and us making love...”

Ben's eyebrow quirked upward.

“You're sure this was a Force vision and not just a fantasy?”

The smack against his shoulder rang out loud and sharp.

“ _Aha-ow!!_ ”

“Quit your griping, you deserved that.” Rey said, though she smiled when she did.

“What else?” Ben prompted, turning serious again, making Rey's face turn scarlet as she recalled.

“You...really wanted to get me pregnant...”

Ben flushed, brushing his hair back from his forehead.

“Oh...really?”

“Really. You were pretty clear and...definitely adamant. You used all your arts to please me until I came undone and my vision went white...And I saw the word 'Adstrum' in my mind's eye”

“Adstrum?” Ben questioned, Rey nodding in confirmation. Ben stood and started to pace the floor.

“Adstrum – damn, it could be anything – a person, a city, a planet, a moon, a whole undiscovered system. It's not much to go on at all.”

“Maybe there's a planet in the Unknown Regions with that name already – an uncommon one that we wouldn't know of?” Rey offered, but Ben could only shrug.

“Couldn't hurt to check, I suppose,” Ben said, turning to their tabletop holo and turning it on, settling with the seat of the couch at his back as the fans in the projector whirred to life.

“And what about you? What did you see in your vision, my Knight?” Rey said, reaching over to run her fingers through his raven hair.

Normally he loved it when she played with his hair, as it was incredibly therapeutic, but in combination with her question and the context of the whole conversation, he shivered at her touch.

“Um...well, oddly enough, I saw you looking pregnant and positively radiant...” he said, voice low as he searched for a planet by the name of Adstrum, typing it in on the holographic keypad.

Rey started at his words.

“Really? And...you liked what you saw?” Rey probed, pulse fluttering.

He could sense her hesitance and the pang of her fear, but he wasn't about to lie to her.

“More than I can say...” he breathed, meeting her gaze. She shied away from it, curling in on herself.

“Ben, you can't just say things like that...”

His aura turned dark gray and her heart bled.

“I'm sorry, Rey, I just wanted to be honest with you.” he murmured, turning away.

“No, I'm sorry.” Rey blurted out, torn. She sighed and ran a hand down her face, staring at the ceiling.

“It's not that I'm taking back what I said, I would want to start a family with you, someday. It's just, between your vision and mine, it seems like the Force is trying to wheedle us into having children quite a bit earlier than we planned.”

The computer searched the universal records, thinking long and hard, giving Ben time to carefully think of a response.

“What did you want to do beforehand?” he asked, quietly.

“What did you say?” Rey asked, ears straining. He met her eyes again.

“If you want to give it some time, but you want to have a family in the future, it stands to my reason, at least, that there are other things you want to accomplish in life first before you have the commitment of family. What did you have in mind?”

Rey stared at him severely.

“Being young, having a life of my own, seeing the galaxy, being able to make my own choices now that I'm no longer forced to be a scavenger?! Honestly, Ben, need I remind you, you're nine years older than me?! I'm only 23, I have my whole life ahead of me!!”

Ben physically crumpled in on himself, cringing away at her words.

His posture made her voice come back down a few decibels.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It's just that – having a family is huge, life-changing. I don't want to start one until I've had a little to time to enjoy myself, and being able to go wherever I want to go and do whatever I want to do.”

“I understand, Rey. I'm sorry for asking...”

“– No, it's alright, it's only natural that you did,” Rey said, testing her body's sensitivity by sitting up and kissing the crown of his head. Not even a tremor, she was back to normal.

“Having a family doesn't have to mean a complete loss of freedom though, Rey. Your life doesn't have to end when you become a parent.” Rey snorted.

“No, it'll just be changed forever.” Ben smiled her way gently, reaching up to press a kiss against her cheek.

“True enough,” he sighed “But despite the horror stories I've told you about my parents, that's not the case for everyone,” Ben explained, half joke and half reason, as usual, making her soften and calm.

“And if that is what it becomes, then I'm doing something seriously wrong as a father and you have every right to beat some sense back into me. I would want parenting and marriage to be like our dyad, an equal, balanced partnership.”

A sure smile graced Rey's lips again.

“I'll keep that in mind, my husband,” she said, switching to kissing his jaw. Ben's stomach flipped, and gut clenched desirously.

“Rey, if you want me to stay out of your pants tonight, you're going to have to stop calling me that.” he said, breathlessly. “The Force already made me desire you almost more than I can bare.”

Rey turned his chin, staring into Ben's lustful dark eyes.

“You seriously want to start a family with me?” she probed, searching for an answer in his hazel orbs.

“All I know is that my knees went weak at the sight of you pregnant with our child...” he murmured, stretching up to kiss her wetly.

And though Rey remained certain that she wanted to wait, this answer pleased her and put her greatly at ease.

It even warmed her tired core just the tiniest bit...

The holo-projector pinged, signaling that the search was done, diverting their attention back to the projected screen.

“Force, there _is_ a planet called Adstrum...” Ben muttered, pulling up the files on the mystery planet.

“That's suspiciously too easy...” Rey murmured.

But then she froze at the sight of the file photos.

Lush forests suspended in glowing auras of greens, blues, and violets. Luminous cave systems and rock pools. A bio-luminescent world shrouded in mystery, the sight of a decommissioned, ancient Je'daii temple. Anyone who had attempted to colonize the planet had disappeared – it was home to no sentient life.

At least, no known sentient life, anyway.

“That's it. That's the place I saw.” Rey breathed, pointing at the caves.

“Force, look at these carvings,” Ben said, pointing out the ancient Je'daii writings they had on file, translated from the temple walls. “It was a crucial, sacred place, that's for certain.”

“A vergence?” Rey asked, hesitant, and now, slightly scared.

“Quite likely.” Ben breathed, running a hand down his face.

“We have to go there, don't we? At the very least, just to scope it out?” Ben laid a hand on hers.

“Not if you don't want to.” he said, dark eyes boring into hers, reassuring and so, so sensitive to her worries.

She kissed him in thanks, brushing her lips against his.

“I appreciate the concern, my Knight.” she said, her attention returning to the planet's coordinates “But I think it's our duty to.”


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben travel to Adstrum and make some startling discoveries about the planet, as well the Je'daii temple itself.

“So, let me get this straight...” Poe began, his skeptic hackles rising up immediately – as was his very nature, “Because you received a “vision” last night on the dance floor – when neither of you were sober as saints, need I remind you – you're taking off for the unknown regions? Just like that?”

“Yes, Poe, we are,” said Rey, swiftly bustling about the suite, packing up provisions for the trip. She'd already taken care of her clothes, which was modest enough pile to lump her and Ben's things together in the same case.

“And when are you gonna be back?” asked Finn, far less skeptical, but no less puzzled by the situation.

“Not sure, Finn, we're taking enough supplies to last a month or so,” grunted Ben, hefting the crates of portions on top of the other luggage, next to the fresh food they were packing.

“'Cause I mean, if we're really talking about an uncolonized planet where the Force is practically shooting out of the ground, shouldn't I come with you? To train and to learn about vergences-”

“NO!” Ben and Rey exclaimed as one.

Finn, Rose, and Poe all narrowed their eyes at the dyad.

“Is there...something about these visions you two had that you maybe...aren't telling us?” wheedled Rose, ever the shrewd individual.

Ben and Rey's auras flared nervously as one, equally questioning how much they should tell the group – how comfortable they were with telling them the truth.

“Let's...just say that our visions made very clear we should go alone.” said Rey, haltingly.

“Yes – it's meant to be an important journey for the two of us-” Ben added.

“ _Just_ the two of us.”

The dyad continued packing in silence for a minute, while the Resistance trio looked on.

“Okay – what gives? Since when do you two keep anything from us?” probed Rose.

“Except for Rey's last name...” Finn muttered, disappointment still flaring icy-blue in his aura.

Rey groaned massively.

“How many times do I have to repeat myself, Finn?! I didn't tell you all I was Palpatine's granddaughter the minute I found out because I was afraid of the truth myself! How was I going to be able to trust anyone else with it when-”

“Would you two quit it?!” Poe exclaimed, stopping Finn's retort before it could fly from his open mouth.

“You were scared and you waited until what felt like the right time – no one can fault you for that,” Poe said, pointedly glaring at Finn, making his ex-storm trooper friend throw up his hands in exasperation.

“Which makes me that much more curious why they feel the need to hide whatever-they're-hiding in the first place...” muttered Rose, scratching at her chin in thought.

“Maybe because its personal, Rose,” Ben shot back, indignant at their probing. By the uncomfortable shots of yellow, red, and gray in his essence, the questioning was getting to be a bit too much for him.

Rey was about to ask Ben to fetch something for her from their room to diffuse the situation when Rose gasped, violently.

“ARE YOU PREGNANT, AND GOING THERE TO PERFORM SOME SORT OF SACRED JEDI RITUAL?!” she yelped.

“ _NO!!_ ” Rey and Ben yelled, sporting identical flaring blushes.

Poe grinned wolfishly.

“ _Now_ we're getting somewhere...” the pilot said. The dyad huffed in frustration.

“Look – okay yes, what we saw had something to do with this strange planet, and our future children, and us. All we know for certain is that we need to go there to discover – whatever it is we're meant to discover – for ourselves.” Rey admitted.

“And we'd appreciate a little trust and privacy to do so freely – _if that's not too much to ask._ ” said Ben, jaw clenched.

Poe quirked an eyebrow at them.

“You wouldn't have happened to have seen...anything, shall we say...intimate, concerning the two of you in your visions, did you?”

Rey blinked and all of a sudden, Ben was charging at Poe.

What followed was a lot of yelling and screaming, a great deal of misuse of the Force, and several minutes of utter chaos that resulted in dog-pile on the floor.

Eventually, Poe emerged laughing as Ben released him from the strangle-hold at the base of the pile, growing tired of playing into his hands.

“Alright you two, have fun on your little sex-Force-vision inspired retreat. Stay safe!” Poe said, guffawing as he disappeared around the corner of the suite's open door.

“Kriff you too, Dameron!” Ben yelled, grimacing as he stiffly rose to his feet, Finn, Rose, and Rey following suit.

“I'll talk to him,” murmured Rose, pursuing Poe with a similar amount of vitriol in her aura as was in Ben's.

“Leave it be, Rose! It'll only encourage him more!” Rey yelled down the hall.

From two rooms down, they still managed to hear a yelp of pain from Poe, which made Rey flinch compulsively, and brought Ben great satisfaction.

“Good luck on your journey of discovery,” said Finn, still begrudging about not getting to go, but considerate all the same.

“We'll be sure to take you there sometime in the future,” Rey said, embracing her best friend.

“Absolutely,” agreed Ben “And who knows? We could decide to set up our temple there – you'll definitely visit Adstrum one way or another.”

“Just...be careful,” said Finn, his hands lingering on Rey's shoulders. Ben, surprising both him and Finn, clapped him on the shoulder.

“Don't worry, I'll take care of her.”

The rare, brotherly exchange made Rey smile, but she had to break it up.

“Come on then, we'd best get going. We wanted to make it there by tomorrow, didn't we?”

* * * * *

Being the galaxy's hero granted one certain privileges. Among them, Rey had discovered, was the gift of a space craft of her very own (and a good thing too, as Lando and Chewie had run off with the _Falcon_ ages ago).

The Consular-class cruiser was a good bit bigger than the _Falcon_ , and its size meant it took a bit of getting used to pilot, but neither Ben nor Rey had had much trouble learning to negotiate the red and white cruiser. Especially since it had been gutted during the war, and most of the new electronics that had been installed had been salvaged from wrecked Star Destroyers.

Ben had laughed out loud when Jacquine had told him the ship was half Imperial, half Rebel. The poetic justice was borderline ridiculous.

Ben's suggestion for the ship's name had been the _Sovereign Politic_ , in honor of his mother. Rey had liked the idea, but detested the name, saying it was far too flashy a name for ship (to which Ben had countered that the _Millennium Falcon_ wasn't?)

But as soon as the name _Kessel's Bane_ had flown out of Rey's mouth, it was a done deal.

The name was just far more punchy and quick.

...And a really sweet gesture, on her part.

Plus, Ben wasn't sure how his mother would take to having a ship named after her – she'd never been big on honorifics.

His father, on the other hand, would have loved it.

Being a cruiser with an advanced navigating computer, the ship practically flew itself once they left Coruscant's atmosphere and entered light-speed. As such, Ben and Rey could spend their time doing other things.

“And how long do you expect me to do this for, Ben? Until I'm numb from the waist down?” Rey said, face already red from the surplus of blood-flow.

“That is generally the idea,” Ben said, stacking more hand-held crates on top of the soles of Rey's feet “It's a standard training exercise all Jedi have to go through,” he said, not even remotely succeeding at hiding his smirk.

“Bantha droppings they do! I guarantee you Luke Skywalker did nothing of the sort!” she exclaimed, wobbling as she tried to adjust to the weight of the crates as she stood on her hands, Ben appearing upside-down to her.

Ben decided he'd stacked enough on Rey and pulled an apple to them from their food stores to his hand from across the room, leaning against the door frame as he munched.

“If you talked to Yoda more when you meditate, he would scandalize you with the stories he could tell you about Luke.” Ben simpered, not a care in the world.

Rey growled in frustration and nearly lost her balance, yelping and just managing to catch herself.

“I told you, Rey, you have to focus.”

“For how long exactly, Solo?! How many consecutive hours did you do this for?!”

“Once, for four.” Ben said, mouth full.

Rey gawked.

“But that didn't really count, considering I was alone, and it was late at night at the temple, and no one believed me the next morning – especially not Uncle Luke.”

“How did you not pass out from exertion?” Rey grunted, marveling.

“After two hours, you lose all feeling in your body. You practically become a Force ghost and just kind of levitate in place.”

“You really want to risk me coming that close to death again?” Rey retorted, her arms starting to complain and shudder slightly.

Ben rolled his eyes massively.

“ _You'll survive._ Now, c'mon, let's make this interesting, try to pick me up as well.”

Rey could murder him with her stare, but she lowered her gaze and concentrated.

Without even lifting a hand off the floor, Ben rose up, scalp grazing the ceiling with ease.

“One of these days I'm going to find something that challenges you, Skywalker,” Ben griped, voice at a low whisper as he finished up his apple, crunching away bitterly.

Rey set him back on his feet, but not before making him yell in surprise as she feigned at dropping him.

“Sorry, what was that?” she said, chipper as anything.

“Nothing, _Ms. Solo_ ,” Ben corrected, over enunciating her, and by proxy his, last name.

“That's what I thought,” Rey mused, smiling, her attention returning to the task at hand.

With a few minutes of deep breathing, Rey was able to center herself and aid the strain of her body on her arms with the Force, likewise keeping her blood circulating through her body normally, despite gravity's directions – preventing any pricks of numbness. Her breathing became a slow, flowing cadence, like the ebbing of the tide. She entered a blissful, zen-like meditation, eyes closed, calm breaths rippling in an unending stream.

She started to lift slightly off the floor, the Force taking her weight off of her arms, allowing her to relax completely, understanding fully what Ben had meant.

...At least until his yelling distracted her.

“ _Flinch already!_ ”

Rey cried out in surprise and sent a small package flying in his direction – true enough in its aim to hit its mark, smacking against his arm as he crouched in front of her, but with next to no force behind the blow.

“ _Solo, you filthy cheater!_ ”

“Oh please-!”

“NO!! You 'oh please' yourself!! Just because you're too petty and jealous to accept that I'm better at this than you were doesn't give you the right to-”

Ben shoved her hips and she landed on her back, the tower of crates on her feet toppling – karmically, most of the hand-held crates landed on him.

Rey was on her feet in a second, new quarter staff zooming to her hand, though she didn't ignite the double-bladed gold lightsaber she'd constructed within. She just wanted to give him a good thrashing, not cut off his hand.

She chased him around the crates, roaring in fury as he feinted left and right, dodging every blow with a grin on his face. He armed himself with the nearest weapon he could find (not wanting to create an imbalance by calling his saber to him), a bit of spare galvanized piping stacked in the corner, and braced himself for the exchange of metallic _clangs_.

The sound reverberated through his skull as the blades conversed, trading and parrying and spinning and swiping, two equally matched fighters in their prime wielding them brilliantly. Ben twirled the pipe over-head, but his powerful cut downward missed as Rey whirled behind a crate. Rey's cuts to the head were always blocked by his pipe, and the staffs just kept wailing on each other, their cacophony seemingly never-ending.

Rey's rage however, was swift to dissipate, as her heart raced and adrenaline rushed. This practiced dance was perhaps the one she adored the most – their swift footwork, their powerful strikes, their skilled and nuanced fighting styles, it was a gorgeous exchange of energy.

And no matter how angry she got at him, a passionate sparring match made her smile, without fail, every. single. time.

By the time Rey got her foot behind Ben's right ankle and pulled to make him drop to the floor, she was beaming and at ease.

She pointed her quarterstaff at his throat and Ben held up his hands in surrender, tossing the bent and dented pipe aside.

“Alright, alright,” Ben murmured, panting from exertion “I know enough to recognize when I've been beat, and clearly, I pale in comparison to your skill, Sun-Rey.”

“ _Finally_ , you admit it!!” Rey cried in triumph, making Ben chortle. “It only took three years, a war, and a proposal for you to say it!” His laugh was warm, rich, and definitely goofy. The sound warmed her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

“The real question is, now that 'the best' has me at her mercy, what is she going to do with me?” he said, dark eyes starting to smolder, essence swirling with burgundy and magenta.

Rey could only grin.

“Nothing whatsoever.” Rey said, cheekily, pulling back her quarterstaff, and heading for the sleeping quarters, grabbing a meal-pack on her way.

“What?” Ben exclaimed, bewildered.

“After a fight like that, I'm exhausted. I'm just going to warm this up in the re-heater, eat it and call it a night. I'm-” Rey feigned yawning “far too exhausted to do anything else.”

“Rey-”

“Goodnight Ben! Sleep tight, I'll be in the room at the end of the hall if you need me!”

And with that, the pneumatic doors _whooshed_ shut behind her and Ben was left with a valuable lesson and a depressingly quiet captain's cabin.

* * * * * *

As it turned out though, a full nights sleep for a change hardly turned out to be the worst punishment for Ben's playfulness, as they'd had several late, passionate nights in a row recently. He retired himself not long after Rey and slept for the rest of the trip.

By the time he woke and had breakfast, the _Kessel's Bane_ was dropping out of hyperspace and approaching the florescent, blue planet.

He was sipping from his mug of instant caff when Rey, already dressed in gray, multi-layered, survivalist gear, suddenly materialized next to him, making him jump.

“Even from here it gives off a striking energy, don't you think?”

He shoved the mug into her hands as she tried and failed to smother her chortle.

“Just take the damned thing if you're so eager to make me spill it.” he grumbled, crossing behind her in his round-about path to the captain's seat, managing it easily in his cape-less, dark green layers, intended for roughing it on jungle planets.

He eased the _Bane_ out of auto-pilot as they made their steady approach, preferring to fly manually so as to scout out a spot for them to set up camp. Rey snuggled into the co-pilot's seat at his right, smirking beautifully.

“I take it you slept well, seeing how you decided to punish me for my playfulness,” Ben griped, and Rey's bouncy sunrise-hued aura soured into a sober blue-silver.

“I was genuinely quite tired...and frankly still scared to push my body,” Rey murmured, making Ben instantly regret his brusque tone.

“It's quite alright...I needed the restful night more than I was willing to admit,” Ben offered, honest and gentle, as recompense.

“Glad to hear you'll be a little less grumpy today,” Rey sweetly chirped, as she rose from her seat and planted a kiss against his temple (making him warm more than he cared to admit), proceeding to the galley to warm her Varactyl egg scramble and coming back in a hurry to tease him with kisses.

Within minutes, they were gliding through Adstrum's atmosphere. It took nearly an hour's worth of scouting, but the dyad finally found a clearing large enough in the nearly endless bio-luminescent forest's thick canopy to set down their cruiser.

Double-checking that the atmosphere was indeed still breathable, they gathered their sturdy canvas packs chock-full of gear and supplies, and lowered the gangway with their hearts in their throats.

The energy of the planet washed over them instantly as the warm, humid air rushed in to greet them, like a warm, sleepy wave on a planet with the tiniest moon controlling the tide. They both stumbled down the ramp onto the mossy forest floor, dazed.

“Force, that's potent,” Rey murmured, not daring to speak above a whisper.

“No kidding. Despite its leaning towards a gentle ebb and flow in the light, it has this...” Ben mused.

“-Undercurrent?” Rey offered.

“Precisely. An undercurrent of unwavering, insurmountable strength.”

It was enough to make them both shiver a little.

Locking up the ship, and ensuring their tracking bracelets could guide them back to it, they set off along a meandering, gentle path through the trees, where the yet unseen wildlife had pressed the glowing, teal grass into a soft, shorn form.

Their every step seemed to light the foliage beneath them, everything seemed to flare at their touch. Despite Ben's insistence that Rey touch nothing, she experimentally, cautiously (but curiously) prodded the ultra-violet tree trunks as they passed, and the cobalt blue blooms the size of her head, and the magenta ferns that spread their leaves feet wide.

Everything thrummed with light here, cool and calming, as if the whole planet was humming in harmony.

“If one of those flowers shoots out mind-controlling spores and you inhale them, I won't be able to fight you back,” Ben warned, his voice hard.

“I'm well aware of that, Ben, but open your mind for a second,” she said, stalling their steady ambling with an outstretched hand.

He did, searching the planet's signature in the Force.

It was powerful, certainly. But warm, gentle. Almost kind, if a planet was capable of having feelings of that sort.

“If anything here intended to harm us, we would feel it, Ben. Do you feel even a hint of aggression?”

“No, Rey – I just worry about your capacity for curiosity and the trouble it gets you into.” Ben said, exasperation morphing into playful banter with ease.

Rey gently poked the tip of his nose.

“And a good thing too, or else we would never have stood a chance of coming together and falling in love,”

Maybe it was the extra energy from the restful night, or maybe it was the influence of this place on his signature in the Force, but Ben's was feeling extra playful this morning.

And he wasn't done with getting back at her for last night.

As such, he seized Rey in his arms and kissed her breathless, his playful pecks tugging at her plush lips as he kneaded, making her gasp and giggle and hum with pleasure, aura sparking gold as only it did when he kissed her earnest.

“Do you?” he wheedled teasingly between kisses, chuckling relentlessly, as Rey squirmed “Do you really love me, Sun-Rey?”

She squealed and almost tore free, so he had to be sweep her off her feet, trapping her in his embrace as he kept peppering her with kisses.

“You already know the answer to that, you smuggler! – _put me down!!_ ” she yelped, though her aura screamed her love for him, making his own glow and swoon with delight.

And then, the entire section of the forest they were in, for a hundred yards in any direction, hummed and blazed with starlight too, and Ben set her back on her feet, enclosing her protectively in his arms, Rey shrinking into his hold in surprise and alarm. The cool glow of all life around them ebbed away, and all returned to normal swiftly.

“I don't think we should kiss out in the open anymore,” Rey said, a breath above a whisper.

“Not until we know more about this planet,” Ben murmured back in agreement, relaxing his grip on her shoulders a hair, though his mouth had gone completely dry.

They followed the path steadily on, eyes pealed for any more strange glowing. Beyond the stray lepidopteran or armored insect, fluttering from flower to flower and ignoring them entirely, they encountered no lifeforms.

A gentle drizzle of rain came down around midday, and Ben put down the protective canopy and blanket and they ate lunch under cover while they waited out the shower.

Cresting yet another hill after their several hour trek, Rey spotted their goal and pointed.

“The Je'daii Temple,” she said, sweeping the loose hairs back off of her forehead “Judging by the distance, it can't be more than an hour or so away.”

Ben glanced back the way they came.

“It would likely be best we set up camp when we get there – we could make it back to the _Bane_ easily enough, but it'll be dark by then,” he said, bringing the setting sun's pink and gold streams to Rey's attention. “I, for one, don't want to discover what this planet's night-life is like without a sturdy shelter.”

“Neither do I, my Knight,” Rey said, nerves growing taught at the thought, as she instinctively thumbed Leia's saber at her belt, fidgeting.

She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rising, despite the warm humidity. Something was amiss in the Force – and it likely wouldn't remain a mystery for long.

Exchanging a knowing look with Ben, they followed the trodden grass downhill together, Rey's mind whirring away with possibilities for her rise in tension.

“You'd think we would've seen the populous of creatures large enough to forge these paths by now...” she murmured.

“Perhaps they're nocturnal,” Ben muttered back, aura spiking with the bright yellow of discomfort as they heard a branch crack in the distance.

“...You don't sound so sure.” Rey's voice dropped to a whisper.

“I'm not. But now that you mention other lifeforms, I'm getting the feeling, the closer we get to the temple, the more we're being-”

Rey yelped in surprise, jumping back as something came crashing from the canopy down to the forest floor.

“-Watched...” Ben muttered, Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

The purple, fuzzy bundle shook itself and untangled it limbs, twigs flying from its fur, revealing a lilac primate with round eyes and a wide nose, perforated by four nostrils. It cocked its head, and its warm yellow orbs stared at them curiously.

Ben stood perfectly still, eyes wide, refusing to trust any life-form upon first meeting – especially a mammal known to have no shortage of intelligence.

Rey took a different approach and relaxed her stance, gently reaching out with the Force, speaking directly to the creature with as little invasion as possible.

_Hello, there. Forgive us for intruding in your home, we merely wished to examine the temple up ahead and learn a bit more of its history._

The monkey went slack-jawed at her words, eyes growing wide as its pupils became massive, eclipsing his eyes.

“ _What did you say to it?!_ ” Ben hissed, starting to panic, hand shooting to his saber. But Rey took a chance and stayed his hand, nervously.

The monkey lifted its head and hooted thrice, long and musical whoops with an abrupt, upward swing in pitch at the end, that sounded neither aggressive, nor quite urgent enough to be a warning.

Rey, however, could not stop Ben from igniting his saber when in response to the call, hundreds of the same kind of monkey appeared overhead and started to rapidly clamber down from the trees.

In seconds, a whole battalion was in front of them, the monkeys varying rapidly in size – some as large as Chewie, and twice as broad, others no bigger than D-O.

The original primate, eyes normal again, approached Rey, walking on his hind feet, and before she could even process what was happening, grabbed her by the hand and began leading her swiftly along the forest path.

“Ben?!” Rey yelled behind her, confused, but Ben was in much the same state, being dragged along by two of the bigger primates. A third sauntered up beside him, and swiped away his lightsaber with his prehensile tail, swiftly turning it off.

“How the kriff did it know how to-” Ben started to say, wide eyes fixed on Rey, before they were launched up into the air, shouting in surprise.

Suddenly, they were being tossed about, flying from tree to tree as the monkeys passed them along like the day's catch at a fish market – only holding onto them for a moment before their long arms swung and the dyad's stomachs were lurching again.

Rey remembered to scream as the ground suddenly flew up to meet her, but now the air-time grew shorter as she was passed from branch to branch on neighboring trees, swiftly passed diagonally down, until her feet landed on solid ground on the stone temple's upper level, just in front of a weather-worn, arching doorway.

Rey wobbled for a moment trying to find her balance again, before Ben all but crashed into her.

By the time they extricated themselves from each other, the first monkey had dropped in front of them. Stranger still, he was holding out Ben's saber as if offering the weapon to him. When Ben didn't take it immediately, the primate grunted and shook it in front of his face.

Ben quickly returned it to his belt.

“Thank...you...” he said, haltingly. The primate seemed to blink at them in assent and gestured vaguely behind him, as if to say “here we are.”

 _It was nice of them to bring us quickly to the temple I guess, but was the acrobatics lesson really necessary?_ Ben griped.

Rey bunched her lips in thought, pondering for a moment.

“Are all the ground entrances collapsed – and that's why you tossed us up here?” she asked the primate, making sure she was reaching out in the Force as well.

The primate chuffed, and appeared to almost nod, though it merely could have been a spasm.

He turned to face the dark corridor and wandered in, loping hand over foot, balancing on the knuckles of his hands.

Exchanging emboldening looks, Rey and Ben followed.

The corridor presented no surprises, and the nexus of the Force that welcomed them as they progressed further along into the vine-laced, gray, stone hallway was neither aggressive, nor deeply Dark, and they took it as a good sign.

The lengthy tunnel finally brightened at the end, revealing the temple's central chamber and the skylight illuminating the room.

Rey gasped softly and she ventured down the thin staircase with caution, hugging the wall.

The carvings were accounted for, at least the ones the holo had shown them, but every square inch of the wall was decorated with the reliefs, and some tiles were so worn there imagery was difficult to discern. But that was not what took Rey's breath away, or Ben's for that matter.

At the temple's center grew a great tree, different from the conifer kin outside. This was more like a Great Acorn tree, gnarled and old, but with a gentle strength in it signature in the Force, and a luminescent green glow. Its roots reached far below, burrowed deep under the temple, and it branches stretched up beyond the skylight, the neon green leaves largely joining its siblings in forming the forest's canopy – some smaller branches remaining below the line of the stone roof.

From the ground, they hadn't even been able to tell the temple housed a tree.

The primate dropped to the warm stone floor beside them and gazed at them fiercely. When it spoke to them through the Force, its voice was masculine, crisp and stern.

_Youngling scholars, take great care that you seek wisdom, and not mere knowledge from this place. During your stay, this planet and this temple may reveal many things to you, and if you are not careful, you will see too much and go mad from the knowing, as the others did who were here last._

The primate sniffed and gathered himself, leaping onto the tree.

_I shall be around, should you need me._

He leapt up and up, heading for the skylight.

_Oh, and take care not to badger the tree._

And with that, he vanished into the light.

Ben ran a hand down his face and sighed.

“This is what we get for wanting to explore strange planets, I expect,” he groaned, ejecting G5 from his pocket. They'd brought the tiny droid along for surveillance and translation – as R2 and 3PO had been unavailable, enjoying some well deserved R&R, and Poe had been flying with BB as of late, as the pilot attended galas and traveled abroad.

“Do a full scan of the room, G5, complete the images of what weathered tiles you can – give us a more complete picture.” Ben instructed.

The laser array shot forth from the tiny droid's glass eye and swept the room thrice. A teal-tinged holograph appeared over-top the space after a swift processing cycle and Rey turned round and round on the spot, examining every bit of history her eyes could land on, mesmerized – Jedi battles of old, prophecies long fulfilled, secret scholarly meetings of diametrically opposed Jedi and Sith, there was even a carving of Luke removing his father's helmet, a legendary act of compassion and redemption, as far as the Masters of the New Council were concerned.

Rey and Ben heartily agreed with this new scholarship.

But what made Rey garble a cry of surprise, was an elaborate, double-wide, delicate carving of her and Ben.

Stark naked and copulating.

* * * * * *

“Rey, what is-” Ben stepped up beside her and the question froze in his throat as his face turned bright red. Rey whipped around to face him, eyes wide and white.

“I wish I had an answer to give you, Rey.” Ben said, voice thin. “But even I'm at a loss on this one.”

Rey approached the carving, staring and blinking, willing the image to change. Willing the stone faces to take on the appearances of someone, anyone else. But despite her efforts, the blue-green image remained, hovering over-top of the two of them, clearly in the throws of passion – Ben's brow scrunched in pleasurable agony, and her head tossed back in ecstasy, mouth slightly agape.

She supposed that, at least, the carving wasn't unflattering. Both of them had been depicted as fit and beautiful, which they both were (though, by Rey's scrutiny, the size of her breasts had been exaggerated, as had the definition of Ben's abdomen) and at least the artist had had the decency to simply shove them close together.

Neither her femininity, nor Ben's manhood were depicted, though the angling of hips and limbs made the action taking place transparent. But still, the fact remained that someone, at some time, had seen fit to predict their love-making and immortalize it. And what was that wavy relief towards the bottom of the panel? It almost looked like-

Water. They were sitting in a puddle of water.

Rey's heart skipped several beats.

“Maybe we'd best try translating some inscriptions first – then try to make sense of the images?” Rey suggested, her voice two octaves higher than normal.

“Agreed,” Ben said, voice cracking, as he had G5 re-do the scan, searching for any writing they could more readily interpret – looking anywhere but at the carving of them.

The droid found some surrounding the cracked stones at the tree's base, the roots having taken on a mind of their own.

Ben approached and brushed away the vines, moss, and dusty dirt, bringing out a data-pad to examine G5's translations and read them at his leisure, the translation appearing over-top the glyphs on the data-pad's camera view.

“'This temple was made to honor the Living Force and all its facets, the Daughter, the Son, and the Father' – standard Je'daii dedications and assertion of purpose, no surprises there,” Ben murmured as Rey crouched down beside him, reading over his shoulder. “'built to study the Force and make it central in our lives, placing in it all our faith and becoming one with it once our material forms cease to exist'...ah – here,” Ben said, tapping the screen, “This will be the manifest, specific to _this_ temple.”

“'Before you is found the wonder of Adstrum,'” Rey continued reading “'a vergence in the Force that allows one to discover certain truths vital to their lives tangible.'”

“'Embrace the branches, guard your mind, and seek out only wisdom immaterial.'” Ben muttered, utterly bewildered.

Rey's eyebrows shot up so high that they threatened to disappear into her hair.

“The tree is the vergence...and it allows one to more readily see the future?” she interpreted, puzzling.

Ben sighed languidly.

“You'd think this Jedi business would've gotten easier and made more sense as we got older,” he said, grimacing. Rey chuckled dryly.

“Not hardly,” she said, holding out her hand, silently asking for his pack. “I'll set up the tent while you cook dinner and ruminate.”

The tent, as it turned out, was self assembling, and popped up with the push of a button, revealing a 8x5 rectangular prism of plastic comfort. As such, Rey also unrolled and laid out both insulated, temperature controlled, sleeping sacks within, before she joined Ben by the fire-pit he'd whipped up to brew their packets of stew in the cast-iron pot, along with their hydrated portion loafs.

“It makes perfect sense, I suppose,” Ben muttered through mouthfuls of bread. “Most vergences allow one to travel through the Living Force to different locations and times. Some surely must be more nuanced.”

“Some just reveal the future,” Rey snorted, chewing as well.

“But not just any future,” Ben said, swallowing as he reached into his pack.

Rey gawked.

“Tell me you did not bring the delicate texts to a humid jungle!!” she exclaimed.

“Of course not,” he said, whipping out a thick journal “just my field notes on them and the files from Padmé's library.”

Rey rolled her eyes.

He flipped to a page in the middle and begin to read.

“'Vergences can vary in strength and purpose, and while most are infinitely aligned with the Force, some are more precise. A tiny, underwater cave on Yavin III once transported Master Yi to a planet halfway across the galaxy, a ruined temple on Dantooine allowed specific glimpses only into the past, allowing Masters to re-examine their own lives more critically, and I myself have seen a...a tree that can show important fortunes for the future...” Ben spoke slower now, more reverently, drinking in each word as Rey was.

“'The Masters at that temple had to vacate after a padawan went mad from seeing his future...he never stopped raving about darkness and a coming war...'”

Ben looked over his shoulder wearily at the tree, gulping.

“It'll be fine,” Rey said, decisive, “We just won't ask it to show us anything.” Ben shot her look, but just as quickly, it was gone.

“What?” she asked.

“No. You're right. I'd rather keep my mind intact. No knowledge of the future is worth that.”

The alarm from Ben's data-pad that their meal was ready interrupted any questioning from Rey as to what he was so desperate to learn about the future, and by the time supper ended, she'd long forgotten to ask.

Ben had kissed her so sweetly and with such longing, that she'd been powerless to do anything after other than let her fiancé carry her to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All comments and critiques are welcomed and greatly appreciated!


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Further visions and manipulations from the Force bring things to a head, forcing Ben and Rey to confront their feelings and fears about starting a family.

First things first, I'm gonna just drop my babies here.

Please be kind as these are my first colored portraits.

Hope you like them. <3

Now for the epic conclusion!

_Soft light, like morning, like dawn breaking on the horizon, but more sweetly than was possible on any planet with a single sun._

_And out of the light, two vague, shadowy forms, huddled in a corner. Hiding? Afraid? Defensive? He couldn't be sure._

_A squeal of delight and his vision cleared._

_“Darling, hold still! How can you expect to go your first day of training with hair messier than a matted Bantha's?” complained Rey, in a tone unlike he'd ever heard her use before. Maternally stern, he decided._

_“Da-ddy, tell her it looks fine!” whined a high yelp, like a little wooden flute being overblown._

_“Listen to your mother, sun-spot – you'll be happy she tied it back come exercises. Otherwise, it would be flying all over the place, and you wouldn't be able to see!” His voice, and as he spoke, he stepped closer and tilted back her tiny chin._

_Blue eyes._

_The brightest, clearest, bluest eyes he'd ever seen._

_Like the sky on a clear afternoon on Naboo._

_And though her eyes were far too light, and her hair far too flaxen and pale, she had her mother's high cheekbones, and cute little nose, and his round chin and strong brow._

_And freckles. She had her mother's pale, speckled, creamy freckles._

_He was instantly overwhelmed._

_He swiftly crouched down in front of her and peppered her soft little face with kisses, producing a giggle that sounded exactly like his beloved. His last two pecks landed on the bridge of her nose and crown of her head._

_“I love you, sun-spot, have a great first day,” he murmured, poking her pillowy cheek._

_“Doesn't Mum get kisses, too?” asked the woman holding their child in her lap._

_He grinned up at the golden brown orbs he would never tire of getting lost in, reached up and kissed his Rey – sweet, warm, and secure._

_He vaguely heard a whine of disgust and a groan of displeasure from the little creature caught between them as consciousness returned to him._

Ben's eyes snapped open, but beyond a slight jolt in his shoulders, he stayed quite still. Rey was curled up against his peck, as he expected her to be. That was where she belonged, after all, a warm presence, snuggled up against him, betwixt him and the thick survival blankets.

And as well that she should be, because otherwise, the ache would have been unbearable. The dull sensation grew acute with each passing moment, with each slow breath, it acclimated and pierced his chest. It slammed into him so he barely had the strength to draw breath.

And against his will, tears slipped from the outer corners of his eyes and rippled in streams down his temples, as his conscious mind grew perplexed at this phantom pain, how he could mourn someone who had yet to even be born – feel grief for one, who was, in truth, a stranger.

...And his beautiful, perfect daughter, all at once.

* * * * *

“Have you ever thought about what they might look like?”

Ben tried to phrase the question as innocuously as he could, but the slight upward hitch in the tone of his voice gave away everything.

“Who?” asked Rey, floating near the skylight.

They'd been examining the tiles on the walls for the better part of the morning, in the effort to make sense of one textured in a tapestry like manner, with no figurative elements. G5 had been helpful in making the image physically clearer, but no less tangible in message.

To gain perspective, Rey had turned herself upside-down, her face turning red as the blood rushed to her head.

“At least, I assume you're not talking about figures in the last carving – I believe we'd settled that they're your grandparents.”

Ben chuckled and wrapped the Force around himself, nudging himself off the ground and rising to her eye level.

“I still say it's a rare depiction of Anakin and Obi-Wan _not_ locked in combat, but no – that's not the 'they' I was talking about, I...I meant...”

Faced with bringing up the topic of children again and making plain his own vulnerability, his own longing for family, Ben faltered.

When Rey, turning slowly in the air and righting herself, automatically tried to glance at his feelings to gain some clarity, she found them surrounded by his mental fog.

“Tell me. Keeping it inside you will just drive you crazy,” Rey said, knowingly, but not unkindly.

His voice was so slight and quiet she almost missed what he said.

“Have you thought about what our future children might look like?”

He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but the demur downward cast of her gaze and the positively radiant blush weren't it.

“'Course I have,” she said, offering him a one-shouldered shrug.

His heart took flight, though he made every effort to hide it.

“You have?” he said, his delighted smile revealing his canines which only made her smile more, and her essence glow scarlet.

“Yes! I imagine our son would have your mop of wild hair -” Rey said, tousling his locks shamelessly “but...maybe my eyes. Or your father's.”

“Hmm-hmph!” he hummed, playfully, the sound turning into a chuckle as he leaned down to steal a kiss. She was giggling when he pulled away, Force sparking yellow and royal blue.

“And our daughter – well, she'd have your mossy-brown eyes for certain, and in the right light, they'd look golden, just like yours.” she said, aura melting into a tender mauve-magenta.

Stars, he could melt into kisses like the one she gave him now, sweeter than stinger honey.

“And she'd be the spitting image of her mother,” he murmured against her mouth, drinking her in “And more stubborn than the both of us put together.”

That made her laugh in her throat, Force gleaming like moonlight as Ben pulled her close against him and sent them on a languid path, floating back to the floor.

It was getting late, and the promise of grilled greens and the spicy Shaak jerky they'd brought with them was calling him.

Rey pulled apart from him, slightly breathless, but not startled to be back on solid ground. Her stomach growled – clearly they were on the same wavelength as ever – and she turned towards the fire pit, striking at the flint until a spark caught the kindling.

Then her aura suddenly dipped into a bright orange, tempered with a suspicious olive green.

“But why do you ask, Ben?” she said, turning, eyes narrowing at him.

He busied himself with preparing the vegetables, laying them out in the pan.

“Oh...no particular reason...”

She leveled him with a glare that could make the most conniving smuggler confess all their worst crimes.

“Okay, I had a vision when I woke up this morning!” he exclaimed, embarrassed.

“About our children?!” Rey yelped, eyes wide.

“Our daughter – our -” he huffed and clawed a hand through his hair “Our beautiful, perfect, wonderful, daughter.”

Rey was looking at him wearily and he rounded the fire pit to settle at her side, taking her hands in his.

“Rey, if you could have just seen her – she had the bluest eyes I think I've ever seen – and the cutest, pert little nose, and an adorable round face and – _freckles!_ ” he exclaimed, caught up in his own excitement, his elation. “She had pale freckles, just like you.”

Rey yanked her hands away from him and the flame in his essence died.

“Ben, the Force might have given you a vision of the future, but need I remind you, the future is always changing. That was only one _possible_ future, and I was serious when I said I don't want children any time soon.”

Ben couldn't explain it, but where only 48 hours ago, this same statement from Rey had been reasonable, practical, it hurt him now like a stab through the chest.

“Define 'any time soon.'” Ben said, his discomfort starting to rise. Rey sputtered in exasperation.

“Not in the next five years – at least!” she finally exclaimed.

It felt like she had plunged her hand into his gut and ripped out his stomach.

“Not for five – you, you never said that – five _years_...?” Ben suddenly felt like he couldn't catch his breath.

“What did you think I meant?” Rey retorted, affronted and perturbed.

“I don't know – you failed to mention specifics like that whenever we talked about starting a family or getting married. I – I guessed within a year or two we'd be wed and once we saw how that worked, within another or year or so we might start...trying for a family...”

Rey's breath stuttered irregularly in her chest.

“You want to have children three years from now? You can't be serious!” Rey exclaimed breathlessly.

“I didn't say that – that was only my rough estimate – and I'd be prepared to wait as long as you need but – _five years_ , Rey? You want to wait until you're nearly thirty to have your first child?”

“That's a perfectly reasonable time to start a family! It's not like I'll be dry by then – and your plumbing will still work just fine!”

Ben's ears flared at the bluntness of Rey's comments, but he pressed on.

“Yes, but the longer we wait, the more difficult things will be for you! It's just scientific fact that more complications tend to arise the longer human women wait to bear to children.”

“I am not starting a family until I am good and ready, Ben Solo, and that is final!” Rey yelled, shooting to her feet, up and away from him. He jumped to his feet just as quickly.

“I'm not asking you to rush into anything!” he said, exasperated “Why are you getting so defensive, Sun-Rey? I'm just stating my assumption and asking you to carefully think about yours – that's all!”

Rey's cheeks flared and her Force turned fiery crimson, making Ben take a step back in shock.

“And here _you_ are,” she said, jabbing a finger in his direction “prompting me to imagine our children and trying to seduce me with your fantasies and your kisses, with no regard for _how I feel!_ ”

Ben's aura bloomed navy with a flicker of orange, and his brows knit together in concern.

“Rey, I would _never_ try to force you into something you don't want – that is not who I am. I asked because of the vision...and admittedly because I...wanted to gauge if you really wanted children – at least, in the way I did, or even half as much...” he said, hesitantly widening the truth of his vulnerability.

But Rey wasn't listening. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked away from him.

“Don't you ever dare do that again...”

Ben huffed, heart bleeding.

“Am I not even allowed to ask about children now, is that it?” Rey looked about ready to tear her hair out, bunching it together in her fists.

“ _You did SO much more than ask, you scoundrel! You tempted me and blindsided me with your fantasies!!_ ”

“What's wrong with dreaming about the idea of having a family?! There's nothing wrong with finding that future beautiful!!”

Rey's anger snapped like a taught string, and her face grew even more flushed, if that was possible, though her voice became quiet once more.

“Forget it. I'm not fighting with you about this anymore,” she turned to leave, rounding the tree to the back exit of the temple, leaving the grilling vegetables to go uneaten.

“Rey – _what are you afraid of?!_ ” Ben exclaimed, distraught as he pursued her, grabbing after her wrist.

She whipped around to face him, and it all happened so fast, Ben barely had any time to comprehend it.

As she turned, her other wrist, the left one he didn't grasp, brushed against the Great Acorn tree's bark, and the moment it did, the veins in the bark flashed as bright green as its phosphorescent leaves, and from the base, from the cracks in the stone, sinuous, glowing, thin, green roots shot up, wrapped around Rey's wrist, and pulled her to the floor.

By the time her body slumped against the trunk, she was unconscious. But her eyes remained wide open, and became wide and white, slowly consumed by the same neon green glow.

Ben fell to his knees.

“Rey?! REY!!” But no matter how he shouted or shook her shoulders or slapped her cheek, she did not respond. He reached into her mind and tried to yank her spirit back to consciousness.

_REY!!_ he screamed into the bright white abyss of her mind, but she gave no answer, lost to the nameless vision the tree had sought to grant her.

“ _C'mon_ , Sun-Rey, WAKE UP!!” he screamed, tears starting to blur his vision as his panic set in. He didn't even give pause to consider that she might come to in a moment, no worse for wear. He could only think of the poor padawan who seen a prophecy of the coming war between the Sith and the Jedi and had lost his mind.

In a desperate gamble, Ben's essence shot into the tree itself.

_LEAVE HER ALONE!_ he cried, and was shocked to feel a resonance of response, an echo of consciousness different from the energy of all living things within. At least, most trees Ben Solo encountered had yet to express something akin to surprise.

_Please, you're hurting her – release her mind from your grasp – she didn't want to know anything of her future!!_

The tree gave something of a half-hearted stir, but still the roots stayed fixed to Rey's wrist, and he didn't dare try to yank them off by Force for fear they might hurt her to remove, or else try to ensnare him too.

His anger and fear combined into a potent, heady tonic that made him act on pure instinct. He slammed his palm against the tree trunk, hard.

_LET HER GO!!_ he roared.

The tree cried out, or seemed to, wanted to, and the roots swiftly retreated – an act of fear, rather than that of a wounded animal escaping with its life.

Rey's eyes cleared immediately, and she blinked rapidly as her senses returned to her.

Ben was quick to yank her into his arms and pull her away from the tree's trunk.

“It's alright, Sun-Rey, I've got you.” he muttered against her hair, stroking her back with shaky hands. Her breathing leveled out and she spoke at length.

“I didn't even ask it a question...It wouldn't listen...flashes of the future...didn't make any sense...”

“I'm so sorry, Sun-Rey, that sounds terrible.” He grimaced, and the back of his throat flooded with the sour tang of guilt. “I'm sorry for picking a fight with you. I'm just glad you're okay – you are okay, right?” He could feel her mouth twist downward against his shoulder as her arms wound around his middle.

“I'm sorry, too. And yes, I'm fine. Or...at least...I will be.”

He decided not to push his luck by asking her to clarify, only holding her for a bit longer until the grumbling of both their stomachs prompted them to return to the fire pit.

* * * * * *

They spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the temples lower levels, and staying as far away from the tree as possible. It was much the same, even four floors down – the walls were decorated with carvings of great events in the Force, there were smatterings of writings here and there, and evidence of collapsed rooms, chambers where the temples initiated slept or ate or congregated or stored their doctrines.

Now, all that remained were crumbling walls, spurts of plant growth and moss where wooden bed frames had long rotted away and fire pits had turned to charcoal, and the remaining blocks of a fallen bookshelf, covered in the dust of its obliterated books.

It would have been haunting if it weren't so peaceful, if they didn't know exactly why the congregation had fled.

As it stood, they merely tried to decipher the moments in history the tiles depicted.

They were currently ruminating over an image of three figures at a balcony, overlooking a lake.

“Anakin and Padmé's wedding on Naboo,” said Rey, confidently, nodding as if confirming the idea for herself.

“Is it?” Ben asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Absolutely. The man between them is the officiant, Padmé has the veil, and Anakin you can identify by the padawan braid and droid hand.”

“I'm not arguing that it's a wedding, but-”

Rey groaned and strode up to the carving, swirling her finger above the laser correction projection emanating from G5.

“Ben, look at what's behind them. We were there – less than a year ago!”

Ben squinted at the lake pondering. His eyes light up.

“Yes, you're right, it is Naboo. Okay then, so that makes this the ninth carving to include Anakin, the third to include Padmé, and – how else should we categorize this one?” he asked, looking up from the data pad where they were logging all their findings.

“Fourth carving about star-crossed lovers,” Rey murmured, already going back to being lost in thought.

She'd been doing that all afternoon.

“I still don't think that category would include carvings of us as well, but – if you insist.” Ben said, his slight smile coming through in his voice.

The teasing was lost on Rey.

Restraining his sigh, Ben approached and tugged on her sleeve.

“Come along, we have to be close to the basement level now.”

“Mmmm...” Rey hummed, noncommittal and distant, though she readily moved past him and forged ahead.

They followed the fifth spiral staircase down, and Rey's steps slowed all the while in their path to the base, until they stalled on the final step, her gaze focused on the blue glow up ahead.

Sensing her palpable fear across their bond, bright and acute, Ben stepped around her and continued on, reaching behind him to take her hand comfortingly in his.

They both started as they stepped fully into the cavernous room – Ben, because a tingle almost like numbness had quickly spread nearly all the way up his arm, and Rey because...

Because in the center of the rocky room, complete with stalactites and boulders and dripping formations of all sorts, was a crystal clear pool that glowed bright blue.

Rey yanked her hand away and stumbled back.

“Force, it was under us this whole time...” she breathed, voice high and unhinged. “I knew it would be here on Adstrum, but...I didn't think it would be this close...”

“Rey...” he turned to face her, trying to inject all the calm that he could into her essence. “In the Force's defense, it's just a spring – the epicenter of the Force in this temple is the tree.” He shut his eyes and reached out.

“This cave is no more mystical than any other – it harbors no ill will, but its hardly a vergence. And just because we've come across it, doesn't guarantee that what you saw will come to pass.”

Still, the fear on Rey's face gave him pause and made his pulse gutter and his heart sink.

His hands pressed gentle comfort into her shoulders, tucked a stray curl of hair behind her ear, his skin warming strangely at the contact.

“I know the tree's vision terrified you, and that's perfectly alright. But in order to understand why, and how I can help you, you need to tell me what you saw – at least...to start. Then we'll...go from there...” Ben said, hesitant and stammering and generally making a mess of things in his less-than-stellar opinion.

Rey wandered closer to the water's edge and sat down, staring at the still pool as if she could see her thoughts reflected on its surface.

“Mostly, I saw light. Snatches of syllables and sounds that I couldn't place, most too loud for me to even wrap my head around. I saw us on _Kessel's Bane_ , happy with each other's company, maybe going back to Coruscant? I saw...the shores of the lake on Naboo, I think...there were fleeting moments of passion as well, rushed and filled with vigor...” She met his eyes.

“And a little boy with a mane of black hair...” she huffed out a laugh. “He looked exactly like I'd always imagined him – so sweet and happy and up to no good.” The smile on her face was completely wonder-struck.

Ben crossed to her side and sat at the lakeside too, listening to the echoing drip of the room, crystalline and pure.

“From the look of things, the idea of kids of our own isn't...completely terrifying...” Ben offered, trying his luck.

Rey shrugged.

“You're right – it's not.”

“Then why does this place, your visions, bother you so – because let me ease your conscience, starlight, you would be a brilliant mother.”

Rey snorted compulsively.

“I'm serious! You're compassionate and kind, you have an incredible amount of patience but you're stern and don't tolerate nonsense, and you have exactly the nurturing disposition and love for children the job requires.”

“Ben – I'd be flying completely blind! I never had any example to follow!” Rey hiccuped, the end of her sentence caught halfway between laughing and crying.

She swiped at her eyes, aura flaring ochre in her frustration. “I'm sorry.”

It took all of one second to enfold her in his embrace and press his palms to her back, and the calming effect was instantaneous, as was the thrum of his pulse through his body.

Though, it took a significantly longer moment to ease her whirlwind of doubts in her essence, tempering her wild oranges with his gentle blues, his reassurances felt and not said, affirmations chasing away the dark.

_Her lost parents were not a curse on her life._

_She wasn't going to lose this family too._

_That was her fear and anxiety getting the better of her, fear at the extreme._

_She was the one who had influence over her own life – not the other way around._

_After all, he was still here, wasn't he? Because she had saved him._

_He was her family._

_So was Poe, and Finn, and Rose, and neither were they going anywhere, anytime soon._

The rest though, the fear she had tangibly voiced, that he felt he should address out-loud.

“...Even with or without examples...no parent begins having any clue what to do – so my mother's told me on many an occasion...” Ben began, slow and meandering, treading lightly, speaking softly.

“But...we all have an instinct for it...and if you _want_ to start a family...and especially if you have help...there's no force in the galaxy that can stop you from realizing that wish, Rey. Truly.”

“You don't _know_ that I'd 'be brilliant' at it though, Ben. You're only guessing.” Rey sniffed.

“True. But I know we work well together in everything else. Why not this?”

She pulled from his grasp and fixed him with a smirk, wiping away the remnants of her tears.

“I've told it all now. You've felt all my fears, all my reasons why I want to wait. Now it's time for you to do some explaining – why is it that _you_ want to start a family so _bad_?” she retorted, easing out of his arms and staring into his eyes.

“Is it just because the Force filled you with desire – or is there something more to it?” she wheedled, making his face and his adorable ears flare.

“The Force filling you with desire is an extremely heady liquor, Rey,” Ben started, rubbing his neck, embarrassed, already lighting his own funeral pyre.

“Oh really? The Force gave me a bio-quake-sized orgasm and I'm no more eager to start a family for it.” she said, crossing her arms.

“But Rey – that isn't fair – you didn't see how gorgeous you looked as a mother!” he stammered.

Rey scoffed.

“So now, with a flat belly, I'm hideous?!”

“ _I never even thought about having kids until I met you!_ ”

The exclamation was loud enough to ring throughout the cave.

Ben cringed.

Rey uncrossed her arms and stilled.

“Really? Not once?”

Ben sighed and his cheeks flared scarlet while his aura turned a deep magenta.

“The Dark Side interlude of my life aside – no. I never imagined that that would...interest me. For...remarkably similar reasons to yours, actually.” Rey's eyebrows shot up, but she didn't question his sincerity, she could feel the flash of silvery-white within him

“I mean, with the only example of a father being – well – h-how would I know what to do or how to act? The idea never interested me, even when I was old enough to at least consider the possibility for the future.”

“...But with me?” she prompted, puzzled but slightly in awe. Ben shut his eyes and the let the memories of the vision wash over him, reveling in it, searching for the glowing heart of it all.

“When I think of that future that I saw...that family, our child...it's so simply filled with light, so beautiful and filled with promise that...how can I not pursue it? Why wouldn't I want that – it seems like such a full, wonderful life...”

Ben opened his eyes to Rey positively glowing with her blush.

“I imagine plenty of girls across the galaxy would kill to hear an answer like that from their partners.”

“Well, you know me, Sun-Rey, never afraid of commitment.”

Her laugh was light incarnate, feathered joy. His essence glimmered in tandem until her chuckles stilled and her gaze grew serious again.

“I still say we should give it some time, but...I won't soon forget an answer like that.” Rey murmured, soft and sweet.

She reached out to him to stroke his arm in a loving gesture, a gentle one.

The instant her fingers touched his sleeve, every hair on his neck stood on end. His breath caught in his throat, and all thought fled his mind.

“Rey...?” he murmured, a breath above a whisper. She met his eyes, warm and open, no tendril of doubt or fear remaining. She trailed her fingers to his wrist, firmly, tenderly, and the resulting shiver made his shoulders convulse and head shake.

“Ben, what is it?” she asked, wrapping her fingers around his palm.

“You...you aren't doing this?” he asked, finding his breathing was growing faster, shallower, as something dark and heady and achingly familiar pooled in his stomach.

“Doing what?” Rey asked, wide-eyed and bewildered. “Are you feeling okay, Ben?” She leaned forward to feel his forehead with the back of her hand, and his breathing stuttered as the butterflies in his stomach made their presence known with their ferocity and relentlessness.

“You aren't...intentionally...trying to use the Force to seduce me? To fill my body with pleasure...and lust?” he breathed, eyes growing dark with desire. Rey blushed monstrously.

“What?! No, I wouldn't even know how to do such a thing!! Ben...what's going on?” She pressed her palm to his cheek and the effect was instantaneous.

The shot of pleasure rocketed straight down his spine and his head fell back as he groaned languidly.

“Rey...” he moaned, and no doubt was left in her mind as to what he was experiencing.

“Ben – I swear to you I'm not doing this intentionally,” she said firmly, squeezing his jaw in her palm as his eyes lazily slipped open. But she might as well have been squeezing his member for all her words got through, the pulse of pleasure hot and strong in his nether regions.

“ _AH! –_ Rey stop that!” he gasped, panting, heart thundering, his mind lost to the peculiar, wonderful sensations.

“What the _kriff_ is happening?! I'm not trying to – I'm not using the Force to – _what?!_ ” Rey exclaimed. “Ben, snap out of it – you're scaring me!!” she said, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.

With a stuttering, broken whine like a Nexu in heat, Ben collapsed onto the floor.

“BEN!!” Rey yelped, and she was on him in a second, hands running all over his face in concern, smoothing back his hair, checking his pulse, trying to meet his eyes.

And every. single. touch. sent a tidal wave of pleasure through him that had him shuddering in ecstasy.

“ _Kriff – Rey..._ ” he could barely speak through the torrent, having to pant and gasp and groan through the pleasure.

“ _Why is this happening?!_ ” Rey shrieked, finally catching on and snatching her hands away. Ben, after heaving for a moment, was finally able to draw breath enough to attempt to answer.

“It must – have something to do – with that _kriffing_ tree, with this _kriffing planet_...” he gasped, trying to still his pulse and wrap his head around his senses once more.

“That's – can't be – it's not... _that's not how the Force works!_ ” Rey exclaimed, burying her face in her hands.

Ben was just barely able to make out her asking, “What does the Force want? Grandchildren?” and if it weren't for the bewildering set of circumstances, and the distress his beloved was clearly in, he might have laughed.

He acted on instinct when he sat up to hug her, not even considering what that level of closeness might do to him in this state.

It mattered not, however.

He didn't even get that far.

Dizziness washed over Ben the moment his head popped off the floor and his eyes rolled back deliriously as he collapsed again.

“Ben – sweetheart, what's wrong?” Rey asked, now well and truly scared, and clutching her hands to keep herself from touching him. Ben's glance down his torso directed Rey's eyes straight to the source of the problem.

Even with the protective canvas-cotton pants in the way, from the way in which they were so acutely tented, it wasn't hard for Rey to guess that Ben was experiencing the most aggressive hard-on of his life.

“Not enough blood's going to your brain, is it?” Rey muttered, glancing at Ben's ghostly pale face.

He shook his head, meeting her eyes tiredly.

“And I think I might pass out before this calms down on its own again,” he murmured, his gaze turning steely despite his half-lidded eyes. “I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for your help in finishing me off, sweetheart, if you'd be willing.”

Rey bit her lip as her eyebrows scrunched together. She let out a slow breath and met his gaze.

“I promise I'll be gentle,” she said, hands moving to hover over Ben.

He smiled at her lightly.

“I know, Sun-Rey.”

“Just say the word and I'll stop,” she breathed, and her palms came to rest on his pecs, proceeding to give his chest a gentle massage.

He buried his face in her shoulder with a whimper that sent chills racing down her spine.

“ _KRIFF, Rey..._ ” he whined, gasping through the onslaught, the tantalizing ripples the likes of which he'd never felt before.

She ran her hands over his shoulders, brushed his neck with the pads of her thumbs, kissed him sweetly, reassuringly.

It was like she was pouring liquid, molten pleasure straight down his throat, settling white hot in his belly, pooling in his crotch.

He had scrunched in on himself, convulsing beneath her ministrations, knees pressed near his chest, breath hot against her neck. He was whining, mewling even, voice high and desperate and needy like she'd never heard before and Rey would be lying if she said the sound didn't turn her on tremendously even as her fear competed for her attention equally.

She traced her path lower, kneading his abs with her palms and he started shaking in her grasp.

“ _Gods dammit, Rey, PLEASE DON'T STOP!!_ ” he moaned, forehead beading with perspiration, eyes scrunched tight as his essence danced and sparked and swooned and spiraled. She descended lower and lower with each pass of her hands and soon Ben was cursing with every breath, voice hitching higher and higher.

“ _Kriff, kriff, kriff, KRIFF, KRIFF,_ _ **KRIFF!!**_ ” It was building, blinding, felt so monstrously good his every nerve vibrated with the pleasure his Sun-Rey induced. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't anything. Then her palms loving stroked his twitching, rock-hard member through his pants and he exploded.

He'd never orgasmed so hard he saw stars before, never felt the tingling aftershocks all the way in the nerve endings of his fingers and toes, never felt like his skeleton had turned to putty inside his body.

And she just kept rubbing his shoulders until he calmed, until he could breathe again, except this touch brought on a very different kind of pleasure, a different kind of euphoria.

Thankfully, at least, the spell of arousal seemed to have broken.

But he had to tell her how good it been.

“ _ **Fuck** _ Rey _._ ..so...so _kriffing_ good...never felt...anything like...that before...” he gasped, barely able to string a sentence together.

“I'm not bringing you up all over again by rubbing your shoulders, am I?” Rey asked, red in the face too, but the fear seemed to have fled her eyes.

“No...no, it's over...feels...feels normal again...” he breathed. “...Stars above, Rey, I love you...”

Rey sighed, but gave him a smile anyway.

“I think that's just the euphoria talking, but I love you too, my Knight.”

* * * * *

“Never in all my training did I stop to consider that using the Force for something like that was possible,” Ben muttered, as they finished up their evening meal around the fire pit.

It was hours later, following a great deal more research and swift baths taken separately in the underground lake, upon discovery that a hidden river system refreshed the water therein, cycling it continuously.

“I mean, I-I suppose it makes complete sense and I could've tried it just, it's j-just...” he continued, stuttering and blushing.

Rey smirked over her bowl of stew.

“It's not the usual application of the Force's more manipulative capabilities.” Ben huffed with sheepish laughter.

“That, and neither side particularly encourages reveling in personal, physical pleasures...”

He was thoroughly embarrassed for his reaction now. He wished his body hadn't taken so to Rey's temporarily magnified abilities, but what could he have truly done? She was his dyad, his romantic partner – his reaction had been only natural.

Still, he wished it hadn't been so extreme.

“You're brooding again,” Rey gently teased, making him scoff.

“I do not brood – that's a habit from my past life, thank you very much.”

“You know I don't hold it against you, right? That you were affected so?”

Ben's tongue locked up, and he turned an even brighter shade of red.

“Yes...I know.” he finally managed to mutter out.

Rey bunched her mouth to the side and set down her bowl, essence swirling with pops of yellow-orange and mauve and teal – the potent cocktail of intense curiosity.

“You have my permission to return the favor, if it'll help...”

Ben could've choked on the last mouthful of stew.

“You...you would actually want me to?” Rey threw up her hands, face flaring red against her wishes.

“So I'm curious and vaguely excited about how this new form of pleasure would feel! Execute me, if that's a crime.”

Ben sighed, pulse picking up at her words.

“I would never judge you for your curiosity, my kyber.”

“And I would never think less of you for enjoying my touch, my Knight.”

He met her eyes tepidly, biting his lower lip.

“I wouldn't have the slightest idea what I was doing.”

“When do we ever?”

The light in her eyes and the mischief in her grin sent a calming laugh shuddering through him.

His deep hazel eyes bored into hers, intense as they ever were.

“Are you sure, Rey? Because I'm hardly going to get mad if you want to avoid doing anything even remotely enticing while we're still here.”

Rey's brow furrowed, her brown eyes glimmering in the firelight.

“It was never the place, Ben.” She cast her eyes towards her own lap. “It was my own fears I was running from, as ever.” Her eyes flickered with a combination of lust and bravery. "I don't want to be held back by them anymore."

Ben rose and rounded the fire to sit at her side.

“Then let me help you chase your fears away...” he murmured, breath warm against her ear as he suddenly leaned in close, voice low and rumbling, charming her instantly.

He pressed a searing kiss against her mouth and gathered his energies about him, directing his Force in a new way. It was hardly akin to bewitching weak minds, but it had an echo of that ability – the Force was funneled through him in much the same way, like redirecting a stream.

But in application, it was much more the gentle seeping temperance, the warming flow of their exchange of thoughts, their continuous open exchange of emotions. Though the effect was slow to build and odd at first, once Rey shoved aside her initial, automatic resistance, the flutter of pleasure in her stomach grew to an enrapturing, glowing warmth.

The soft moan that wormed its way out of her throat emboldened Ben, and he reached up, cupping her cheeks with intention, his essence freely entwining with hers and caressing at her mind, her soul, as his thumbs eased his Force into her through physical contact – giving her pleasure with simple touches as she had with him.

“ _Mmph!_ ” Rey's soft cry made his essence crackle with warm and desire, darkening deliriously.

“Good?” he whispered, easing his palms over her shoulders to run his hands reverently up and down her arms.

“Ben!” Rey moaned softly, the ribbon of pleasure coiling achingly tight in her gut as her forehead came to rest against his shoulder and she curled against him, craving his touch. “My hearth, it feels wonderful!” she exclaimed through a gasp as he brushed his fingers brushed tenderly, searchingly against her neck and she shivered with delight.

He continued on his way, rubbing her arms, her back, her waist, working each muscle with luxurious attention, marveling at how her essence lit up like shooting stars and solar flares with each jolt and ripple that he sent her way, teasing his intentions from her with ease. She savored every caress, and whispered words of love into his mind that only made him want to give her more – as much as she could withstand.

His fingers trailed down her spine and she arched against him with a cry and he couldn't help the groan of desire that escaped his throat.

“ _Stars above_ , I adore you...” he growled, and proceeded to pour his influence into her yearning essence.

The labored groan of pleasure that vibrated up from deep within her chest as his fingers dug into her thighs was enough to set his blood aflame. He kissed her deeply, hot and wet in apology as she fell back, legs still partially straddling him.

“ _Ben!!-_ ” Rey gasped, heaving with want “not so rough – when you're _teasing!_ ”

“Forgive me, starlight, but I want to give you everything!” he moaned against her mouth, as he started to pant, her desires giving rise to his own.

She cried out high and trembling as he trailed his hands over her breasts and down to her abdomen, the home to her precious reproductive system, and kneaded the curvy flesh there, loving her, venerating her womanhood, her Force sparking and firecrackering in earnest.

“Stars, I want to have children with you...” he gasped, kissing where he rubbed and sending a shivering, strong pulses of pleasure blooming outward from her sex.

“ _Ah!!_ Force, Ben, I can't _take much more!_ ”

Ben was reeling at her sounds, her cries and pants only adding oil to the fire in his veins. He couldn't believe the results just a little persuasion with the Force could produce.

“I'm not going to lie, starlight, this is terribly intoxicating...” he said, eyes dark with lust.

Rey's eyes popped open, the desperation in them clear as his hand pressed near her abdomen had her convulsing and mewling.

“But I won't stretch it out any longer. Let me show you how much I love you, Sun-Rey.” He leaned down to kiss her, open-mouthed and sweet, and at the same moment, pressed his palm against her scorching center as his fingers delicately cradled her neck.

Her core _pulse, pulse, PULSED_ , and she careened over the edge, not the strongest release of her life, but lasting and trembling in a way she'd never known. The pleasure seemed to go on and on, like the expanse of the ocean stretching to the horizon, though with a gentle rub from Ben, she shuddered down from her streaming high.

Her echoing whine of want made him twitch and he counted backwards in his head for a long minute until his blood returned to its rightful place – she'd done more than enough for him tonight and he refused to get any more worked up.

She was up in a moment, kissing him so deep and with such longing he thought he might drown in the feeling.

“Ben, that was... _stars_ that was amazing – look at me, I'm still shaking!” Rey laughed, her body still alive with the high of her euphoria, her shoulders shuddering. He held her tight, gently rubbing away her trembling, backing away from her essence within their bond, retreating to the comfortable closeness they always maintained.

“The sensitivity will wear off in short order,” he murmured.

“Thank you, that was amazing,” she whispered, and now it was his turn to blush.

“Force, Rey, as if I would've done any different. I love you, after all...and I want to give you the galaxy, down to every last star...” he said, his voice turning even softer, filled with somber desire.

“Including a family of our own within it?”

“...Especially a family.”

And as to why the Force wanted them to have children so? Ben would make a point of asking the devious universal energy himself. Tonight.

* * * * *

In short order, Rey fell asleep, curled on top of his arm. He hadn't had to wait long for her to nod off, he had thoroughly spent her energy after all.

Now however, that it came time to rise again, he was feeling just the smallest twinge of regret that he had to leave. He'd yet to leave her side after an intimate act, he'd always stayed curled up against her and slept through the night, the afternoon, another hour in the morning. Even to do something as important as ask the temple's tree what it was trying to achieve, it felt wrong to part from her warmth, from the subtle caress of her supple flesh beside his.

He eased his conscience by telling himself he'd back in a moment, and, nudging the Force under his beloved, he lifted Rey up just enough so he could free his arm, and then, ever-so-slowly, laid her back down.

Ben slipped out from under the covers, shivering at the jungle's cold seeping into the temple, and regretting that he'd let Rey wheedle him into taking off his shirt to sleep.

In the months since they'd started sharing a bed, he'd quickly grown overly-attached to the press of her gentle palms against his bare pecs, and the tickling brush of her hair against his neck.

Now he wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to sleep without those sensations again.

But he shook himself forcefully from his bittersweet reverie, he needed to focus.

He approached the tree like one might tentatively walk towards an injured Krayt Dragon, or how he might've approached an injured Rey a few years ago, when the war still divided them.

Ben was hardly going to admit, even to himself, that he was afraid of a tree.

Mostly because it wasn't so much the periphery as it was the Great Acorn tree's connection to the Force. He was about to give it an open invitation into his mind, surrender to it.

A part of him shuddered at the thought of what danger that might invite, what darkness might seep in.

But he was calm, his mind was clear, his question held lightly and purposefully within it.

He could be no better prepared.

So he placed his hand on the trunk with confidence, and asked the tree:

_Why is the Force trying so fervently to persuade us to have children?_

Most Force visions exploded into his head, felt like an intrusion, an interruption into his universe, a stutter or pause in the flow of time. The light that bloomed in his mind's eye as the tree's young roots crawled up the trunk and wrapped tenderly around his wrist, felt as natural as the passage of one second to the next.

And unlike most Force visions, he wasn't overwhelmed. The tree only planted imagery in his mind, his human senses stayed fully aware and present. He was more grounded in reality than ever before.

Perhaps that was why the vision didn't completely unhinge him.

Because the sight before him was more arresting than enlightenment, squeezed his heart just as tightly as the moment his father had confronted him on Kef Bir. He saw it all in segmented flashes – enough to understand what was going on, but without peripheral information of time or place.

Phantom figures of Rey and himself floated out amongst the empty, bright expanse of white, and stuttered through time, moving normally one moment, flashing along faster than his eye could perceive the next.

One moment, he was kneeling in front of his fiance, kissing her full, pregnant belly.

The next, she was prone and screaming, and their daughter, pale and crying and with a shock of white hair on her delicate head, was tenderly passed to them to hold, and marvel, and supply them with copious tears of joy.

Than a late night, spent desperately trying to get her to sleep. After trying everything, and having nothing to lose, he mumble-sang a lullaby Leia had sung to him when he'd had nightmares, and she nodded off instantly in his arms.

Another moment, him patching up his daughter's first scraped knee, quietly observing his gentle hands as she swiped away her tears, stubborn as her mother. She was a little bigger now, maybe three or four?

Another still, their daughter directing the wind with the Force to blow out the candles on her seventh birthday cake.

The birth of their son, dark haired like his father, and twice as curious.

Playing with their children and laughing at the stories they invented.

Teaching them to meditate.

Instructing them on the Force.

Mock-battles and flying lessons.

Late nights spent worrying over what might become of them.

Arguing with them about late schoolwork, or forgotten chores. Returning later to forgive and forget.

Watching them grow, seeing them blossom. Watching them make mistakes, and fall and get back up, and have their first crushes, and struggle to make sense of the world, and wonder at the Force, and...and...

And they were happy.

It was a flawed life. They were hardly perfect parents. But they were happy.

Rey especially.

One moment that lingered was of her teaching younglings in a circle – telling the story of his grandfather's fall to the dark and return to the light – and asking the kids what lessons they could find within it. His daughter's hand shot into the air first, and Rey hesitated to call on her; she'd heard this story many times, after all. But the moral she offered was all her own: that love tended to complicate things, no matter your intentions.

And Rey positively glowed when she laughed in agreement.

It all unfurled before his eyes, like the hesitant rosebud of late spring coming into iridescent bloom.

Perhaps they weren't ready to have kids, it wasn't what they wanted in the moment. But, it was they truly needed most – a family of their own was the fulfillment of their hopes, their goals, themselves, it was that which they had always sought.

It was connection, and love, and finding a home, and planting roots, and inspiring something new in the world, fostered by a balanced view.

Certainly, the advice and instruction they could offer to a clutch or several of padawan younglings was valuable. But passing on their wisdom and skill in their own children was infinitely more precious.

The Force was trying to egg them on so, because its goals and theirs were aligned – it wanted to see the next generation of Force users come to fruition, wanted him and Rey's abilities passed on.

For the first time in Ben Solo's life, what he wanted most, and his fate, were pointing him in the same direction.

He had his answer, and his palm fell from the tree, the bark pricking his skin innocuously.

He barely had time to take a deep breath before the shriek behind him made him jump.

“ _What did you do?!_ ” Rey exclaimed, eyes wide, shivering in the cold in the thin layers of her sleeping shift, the absence of his warm body having disturbed her sleep more than he'd thought it would.

Ben tried to speak, but he could not.

It was only when the tears slipped from his eyes that he understood why.

Rey padded over to him, her expression speaking effortlessly of a bleeding heart.

“My hearth, what did you see?” she asked, wiping away his tears with the most gentle caresses.

A single sob overwhelmed him for a moment, before he managed to speak.

“Let me show you.”

* * * * *

The Force's answer slipped across their bond easily, entering Rey's mind as fluidly and calmly as a river cutting a path downhill. All the same, to ease the transfer of the memory, Ben kept his palms securely against her temples until he showed her it all, every flash of their promised future.

Her aura and danced and morphed, a technicolor swirl, never settling on one shade for long. Her emotions were a whirlwind, and it made him worry.

When he'd fed her all he knew, his hands traced lower to clasp her face between his palms, waiting with bated breath to see how she would react.

When Rey's eyes blinked open, they were filled with tears – and for a terrifying second, Ben's heart nearly snapped in two.

But then she smiled, a smile of understanding, of peace and certainty, and his heart calmed.

“I think I understand, now,” she breathed, a tiny, joyful sob escaping with her huff of breath.

Ben's tears flowed freely and he couldn't be bothered to care.

“You do?!” he said, chuckling with delight, the most boyish smile on his face.

“Yes, Ben, I do. It's a piece of our destiny. A family will give us everything we've been looking for.”

His chest shuddered with laughter and tears as he tugged her closer and kissed her. Her fingers wound into his hair and pulled him deeper, and his heart soared.

He hadn't even realized he'd swept her off her feet until his arms complained and he had to set her down again.

Rey let the kiss linger, pulling away with a warm and wet caress that made him shiver.

Her hands came to settle on his shoulders, one combing idly at the hair at the nape of his neck. She looked pensive.

“What is it, starlight?”

She met his eyes, biting her bottom lip.

“I'm still absolutely petrified.”

He kissed the crown of her head, and her essence glowed like sunshine.

“I am too. But it makes all the difference to know we'll be happy. To know that we'll make...passable parents, shall we say?”

She smiled and rubbed his shoulders, making him shudder and become acutely aware of just how cold he was.

“And I suppose trying to get the same fulfillment from somewhere else, be it our friends or our students, will ultimately be a poor substitute?” she mused, rubbing his arms more to warm him.

“I mean, who's to say?” Ben murmured, uncertain and no more knowledgeable about the future than she. “I hope we can find an echo of that fulfillment, until you're ready.”

Rey's loud bark of laughter startled him.

“Ben, my Knight, I love you but you can be terribly dense sometimes.” Her hands dropped and clasped his own.

Her darling brown eyes were round and filled with such vulnerable hope, just tender trepidation, that his heart almost quit beating on the spot.

“I _am_ ready, Ben.”

Force, he was going to pass out.

So heady and strong was the rush of joy and elation, and decrease of blood in his brain as his body immediately stiffened that that was his only option.

He practically fell upon her, kissing her breathless, his playful pecks persistent and yearning, his essence bursting with moonlight-tinged longing and sun-lit joy and wine-colored, love-sweetened lust.

“Ben! – Sweetheart, slow – down!” Rey yelped between kisses, her Force echoing his with similarly delighted bursts of light. “I'm – still – terrified!” she managed to squeak out.

Her words were like a bucket of cold water and he stilled.

“What can I do to help you then, Rey? Or...should we still wait?” he asked, between pants. Her smile was as uncertain as it was sweet.

“Help me calm my fears?” she asked, moving a hand between their bodies and offering it to him.

He smiled in understanding.

He clasped her hand and used it as a tether to pour his feelings of love, words of reassurance, reminders of her strength and bravery, all into her essence in a wash of comfort.

_She was one of the strongest people he'd ever known._

_She'd been through far tougher things than what was to come._

_He would be with her every step of the way._

_She had him, heart and soul, and he would wait on her hand and foot for nine months if that was what she needed._

_She was such a wonderful spot of light in his life, she had everything she needed to learn how to be a mother, and they would share the responsibility and privilege of parenting equally._

_And she would learn. They both would. She had the desire to, and she had more instincts on her side than she knew._

_And he loved her. So, so much._

He leaned forward as the minutes passed, as the golden light of his love chased away the navy blues of her dread and fear, the anxious worries that bloomed in her mind as she began an entirely new journey with him. The dark spots turned to small lights of her own, wavering, but bright.

Their foreheads came to rest against each other, and their eyes opened, the entire expanse of their worldview consumed by bright hazel and glimmering umber.

“You can change your mind any time. I won't hold it against you-” His reassurance was cut off by a passionate kiss that made his toes curl.

“I don't think I will, smuggler,” she murmured, voice low and husky and doing all sorts of wonderful things to his body. “But I adore your consideration.”

Then she grinned mischievously up at him.

“Now, if you wouldn't mind carrying me down to the cave?”

He practically sprinted down the stairs with her in his arms.

In his eagerness, they all but fell into the warm underground lake, the splash enormous, their clothes soaked, and their laughter raucous.

“You couldn't have put me down – and waited until I took my shift off?!” Rey exclaimed between guffaws, splashing him.

“No – I couldn't have!!” Ben choked out, his abs hurting from how much he was laughing. This only raised her ire higher, and, slapping the water in his direction, drenched him from the waist up, prompting him to retaliate, rising onto his haunches only to pounce and tackle her.

They came up for air, completely drenched, souls alight with unrestrained joy, the cave echoing with their laughter.

Ben leaned back enough so Rey could sit up and he sobered, caressing her cheek with the pad of his thumb, his joy thrumming in his veins for her feel.

She smiled bashfully, the moment quite taking his breath away, as a lump formed in his throat. The beauty and tranquility of the moment quite overwhelmed him, as did an underlying current of something divine and ineffable. As if this perfect moment had been forged just for them, and now they were overwhelmed with the beauty of its design.

Something about the sight of her gorgeous, warm brown eyes blinking open to fix him with a look of love made him tremble and his desire to protect her rise heady and warm in his chest.

Ever-so-slowly, he leaned down to kiss her, one hand cradling her neck, the other moving to her waist to draw her body between his legs so she could press flush against him. It was the most searching, tender kiss he'd given her in a long while, as tepid and vulnerable as their first, and it shook Rey to her core.

He parted from her to look into her eyes, searching for what, she wasn't sure. She'd already given him her confirmation.

She didn't have to wonder for long. He smiled reverently and unglued his tongue from the roof of his mouth.

“It's so strange...how – _full_ my heart feels...” he muttered bashfully.

“I know what you mean, my hearth. Mine does too.” she whispered back, kissing him deep and stoking the embers of his passions, reminding him of their presence.

His eyes, when they parted, were hooded with lust.

“Somehow I think I was less nervous when we first made love...” he said, chuckling, and tilting his head to trail kisses down Rey's neck, kneading the flesh with his lips just how she liked, and inspiring an opalescent swirl of desire in her Force. She hummed in pleasure, prompting him to capture her lips again, briefly.

“Something about this moment just feels so sacred...or...fragile. Like I might break it if I'm not careful.”

Rey smiled and leaned forward, placing tantalizing nips along his neck in turn and trailing her hands down his body – pressing a bit of arousal into his Force all along the way, making him cry out with longing.

“Not a chance, Ben. You're far too gentle for that...that's how I know you're going to be an amazing father.” she teased, tapping her fingers along his torso, sending little shots of gentle pleasure into his body.

His guttural growl when he laid her down to kiss her, fierce and possessive, set her on fire.

“No, my darling starlight, you'll easily outshine me with how wonderful a mother you're going to be.” he mumbled, softening his ministrations, trying to relax the grip he had on her hips and release her lips with a more gentle pressure. He didn't want to bruise her when they'd just begun.

Rey, however, huffed in pleasure at his passion.

“Agree to disagree,” she murmured, trying to catch her breath, stomach full of ravenous butterflies, warm desire coiling tight.

Ben eased off her and invited her to rise with a tug of her wet shift's straps.

“Now, let's get you out of these wet things.” he said, impish grin already in place. She reflected it right back at him.

His lips followed the wet fabric as he peeled off of her skin, kissing and worshipping her, treasuring her shoulders and collar bone, settling for a time on her breasts to massage the pert flesh with his lips and lick her rosy nipples until Rey gasped, and then continuing down to reverently peck and nip her hips and thighs.

By the time he tossed aside the sopping wet shift, Rey was aglow with her desirous flush.

He leaned down to continue, only for Rey to grab hold of his soaked pajama pants.

“You too.” she said, voice lilting flirtatiously, adorably.

Her palms massaged a purposeful path down his chest, making the heat within him stir and coil tighter under her ministrations. His deltoids, his pecs, his sides, his abs, everything received her undivided, loving attention. By the time her fingers slipped below his waistband to strip him, his pants were tenting.

The pants flew across the room to join her shift somewhere, and as they'd slept barefoot, there wasn't anything else to remove.

Rey all but fell into his arms, kissing him hot and needily, entangling her fingers in his hair and making him groan in his throat.

_Kriff, Rey, the things you do to me,_ he moaned in her mind, _You could turn me feral..._

The lust in her aura flushed and flashed with pleasure at his words, an intoxicating magenta and burgundy.

 _Oh, Ben, don't I know it,_ she said, and her kiss was searing. _How would you like it if I tried to?_

Her hand snaked between them and squeezed him, pressing her thumb on the sensitive underside of his length and drawing a slow line up.

He mewled with desire.

“ _Fuck_ Rey...” he panted, hand shooting to cover hers, to loosen her hold. “Not yet,” he groaned, managing to wrench her off him. She stared at him bewildered.

He chuckled lasciviously.

“You first, starlight. Let me worship you.” he said, grasping her hips and pulling her close. Her blush spread all the way to the tips of her ears as he laid her down.

“You're too good to me, Ben.” she muttered against his gentle lips.

“No more than you deserve, Rey.” he retorted, pecking his way swiftly down her body. He slowed as he reached her thighs, kneading and kissing there, driving her wild with anticipation.

“Ben – must you be such an awful _tease?_ ” she grunted, trying to nudge his head closer to her desired destination.

But he only gave one more peck, he didn't want to tease her long. Exhaling warmly on her sex, he dove in tongue first, lapping at her nectar in luxuriously long strokes.

Rey cried out beautifully, slapping her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound of her loud moan.

 _My kyber, please don't quiet yourself like that. I adore your moans,_ he said, teasing her pearl quickly with the tip of his tongue in way he knew could make her thighs shake.

“ _Oh-hhngh! BEN!!_ I know, I just, _AH!!_ I get too loud when you do this!!”

_Who's going to hear us out here?_

“No one, but it's embarrassing how – how – how, _oh stars –_ much of a – _AAH!_ mess this makes me!!”

 _A beautiful mess that I couldn't possibly adore more..._ he mused, tenderly stroking her lips and kissing her nub.

“Oh, Ben...” she murmured, lovingly, just managing to catch her breath.

 _So, forgive me if I try to pleasure you senseless,_ he said, plunging his tongue inside of her. His ministrations were already making her pulse and shudder.

“ _ **BEN!**_ _Oh kriff,_ I can't _stand_ it!! It's too good!!”

_Then let go, my darling, don't hold back for me._

With a shuddering cry, Rey tipped over the edge, Ben lapping up the excess sweetness until her whimpering stilled and she was left a boneless, gasping mess, his mouth coated in her delectable nectar.

“Kriff, Ben, if we keep going this way, how are either of us going to have energy enough to walk back upstairs?” she said, shakily pulling herself into a sitting position.

He laughed, unapologetic as he licked his lips clean, savoring her taste.

“I'm sure we can work something out.” he chuckled, sucking in a breath as she leaned forward to kiss him sweetly.

“Could I try something new tonight?” she asked, all earnest love. He raised his eyebrows.

“...I don't see why not. What did you have in mind?”

Her eyes darkened seductively.

_Giving you the same treatment._

She lowered her head and licked him from base to tip, making him gasp. It took every once of strength to keep himself from seizing her head and bunching his fists in her hair, his hands scrabbling uselessly for purchase against the polished, rocky lake bottom.

“Rey, there's no way I'm going to last if you do that...” he gasped, hoarse from her ministrations already.

She smiled compassionately.

“Just a little bit then...” she murmured, breath warm on his leaking tip. She opened her mouth wide and lowered herself onto him, experimentally testing her gag reflex, finding a point that enveloped him but was still comfortable. She stroked him slowly, head bobbing up and down, as her hand wrapped around his remaining length and pleasured the rest.

Ben's head tipped back, eyes almost rolling into the back of his skull. It was like the slow build of waves underwater, accelerating until they rolled, harsh and strong against the shore. And he was roiling in the current.

“ _Stars above Rey,_ ” he begged, essence screaming in pleasure “how is everything you do so perfect?” She gave no response, simply accelerating her rhythm. In a brief moment, he was whining, mewling with want. His arms shook with the effort to stay seated upright.

A particularly delicious jolt of pleasure hit, and he yanked away from her with a cry. It took a few minutes of gasping for him to calm enough to keep his head again, but when he did, he wrapped her in his arms, pulling her to her knees against him.

 _Rey, you wonderful, brilliant scavenger!_ He exclaimed, making her pulse flutter.

 _I'm just making good guesses about what you'll like!_ Rey retorted, essence flushing. _Glad you enjoyed it so much..._ she purred, eyes dark with her desire.

His hand swiftly trailed down her body to stroke her hot, wet center with his fingers, persuading her to relax just a little bit more. Her moan was music to his ears when he experimentally stretched her.

The moment had arrived, and the Force seemed to vibrate around them with anticipation, with resolution, a predetermined design finally coming to fruition. He felt he should say something – something profound or endearing. Anything to encapsulate how the moment both mortally terrified him and made him shiver with delight.

But he could only think of one thing.

“I love you, Rey,” he whispered, kissing her softly as she wrapped her legs around his hips and he settled with her in his lap.

“I love you too, Ben,” she echoed, essence alive with light. She laughed, tears glittering in her eyes. “Let's make our family.”

He huffed out a laugh, giving her a watery smile too.

“Let's.”

She raised her hips and he helped her align with him, holding her up. She eased herself onto him, sweet and slow. When she'd sunk to his hilt, he pressed his forehead to hers and they simply breathed, savoring the feeling of completeness, of fullness, of bliss.

It was simultaneous, the dip of his hips and the lift of hers, opposite directions, but moving in harmonious tandem. Her walls squeezed him tight, his member stroked her hidden point of pleasure and they moaned softly in the same breath.

They found a steady rhythm, unhurried and reverent. Rey softly bobbed in his lap, his hips thrusting to meet her movements. They savored the ripples of pleasure, the shocks and bumps and shudders, clutching each other, not taking their eyes off of one another.

Their Forces had just about become one mass of energy – there was no separation in their bond, just a conglomerate of love and adoration and pleasure and peace. It was a continuous exchange of 'I love yous' and 'Stars, you feel so good' and 'It will only ever be you' and even one whispered 'Force, I can't wait to marry you,' but neither could have said who thought it. They lazily swam in the current, following their instinctive rhythm, practically aglow with their hearts so full. The Force around them vibrated at an hitherto undiscovered hum.

They happily kept treasuring the extended, steady pleasure for as long as they could, but all too soon, she could feel Ben starting to have to fight off his release, and he could feel Rey struggling with hers, her walls shuddering insistently.

“Go faster, sweetheart,” she breathed, their hips starting to slap together as she bounced in earnest, gripping his shoulders more tightly. “Don't hold back.”

Ben needed no further invitation. He thrusted into her harder, faster, stroking her walls mercilessly as he groaned with need.

She gasped against his neck at the building tide of lust, chasing that wonderful crescendo, her aura sparking and flaring with all her body was experiencing – coupled with his jolts and whirls of pleasure too, the Force about them starting to pulse and jolt.

There was no end, no break. There was no 'his pleasure', or 'hers', there was just rapture and the swimming in it, and the ever accelerating pace.

“ _Kriff,_ Rey, tell me you're close!!” Ben growled, each stroke sending a pulse down his shaft.

“ _Mmmm-hrmm!_ ” Rey moaned, bouncing faster, angling her hips just so to hit her inner spot every time. She shuddered in ecstasy, tottering. “ _Ben!!_ Oh _**stars!!**_ ”

Her nails dug into his shoulders, and his hands would surely leave bruises on her hips, but neither could care less. Ben whined, member starting to twitch.

“ _Nghh! Rey!!_ ”

She wasn't sure if she asked, but it mattered not – Ben's fingers still came between them and pressed against her abdomen, flooding her body with pleasure, his Force encapsulating hers rapturously.

Rey collapsed against him and cried out, walls pulsing around him.

“ _ **BEN!!**_ ” her shriek reverberated through the cave, loud enough for all the galaxy to hear.

His release practically knocked the air out of him.

“ _Rey..._ ” he breathed, and he was kissing her.

And kissing her, and kissing her, and he stroked away at that spot within her and let the pleasure stretch on and on for them both until their nerves sang with it. They floated in it, swooning and shaking, surrounded by pinpricks of light that might have been the stars or could been the bio-luminescent, sparkling cave rejoicing, as the Force exploded and the whole planet reverberated with the harmonious thrum and beat of life, iridescent and electric.

Tears escaped Rey's eyes because she'd never felt more complete and a sob ripped from Ben's throat because he'd never felt so loved, and both held tight to each other because nothing had ever felt so right.

They floated down from space, back into their flesh and blood bodies and collapsed into the shallow water, all their strength gone. They refused to part, refused to even move for a while, the afterglow so peaceful and exhausting. Rey just stayed tucked under his chin, and Ben kept his arms around her shoulders, and every so often, he would lean down or she would stretch up for a kiss.

The longing hadn't faded. If anything, their desire for each other had only grown stronger, and they only parted for the briefest of moments to wash a bit and gather up their things.

Then, they walked side-by-side up the stairs, arms around each other's waist, to their abandoned tent, curled against each other, and slept soundly.

* * * * *

Rey made a point of forgetting to take her contraceptive the next morning, and for the next several mornings after, and the sight of her reaching for the pills in her pack, only to remember and put them away again, never failed to make Ben smile.

They didn't stay much longer at the temple, for they felt the place had taught them everything they truly needed to know. They cataloged a few more carvings, speculated about others, packed up their things and returned to the _Bane._

Before they left, however, Ben's eyes landed on the tapestry carving they still hadn't solved.

The image became clear before his eyes.

“I understand it now. It's an artistic depiction of the will of the Force,” he murmured in wonder. Rey cocked her head.

“I still don't quite see it.”

“It's the grand design of all our lives – our paths through the light and dark, our common struggles and our differing dreams, and how we're ultimately all joined together by the Force.” He pointed to a trailing, winding weft in the rocky cloth, colliding with another about halfway, and remaining braided to the edge.

“That line could be us.”

Rey's smile was cheeky, but still light incarnate.

“Maybe,” she said.

Two months or so later, Rey, with an ecstatic Rose observing, had the penthouse suite's medical droid check the progesterone levels in her blood.

In their heart of hearts, both Rey and Ben knew what the result would be the morning they typed in Coruscant's coordinates to the _Kessel's Bane_ and journeyed home.

They could feel it already, Ben more distantly, but Rey certainly.

There was a tiny presence in the Force – neither Rey, nor Ben, but a combination of both their energies – and it was emanating ever-so-quietly, warmly, from deep within Rey.

Still, Rey cried and jumped for joy when the droid confirmed she was pregnant, and immediately ran the seven blocks to New Jedi Temple to tell Ben the news.

His reaction was twice as zealous as hers – he spun her around in his arms in two complete circles before he broke down, falling to his knees as he sobbed, squeezing her by the waist.

And while Masters Jan'ni, Orroku, and Dante had looked on bewildered (and mildly disturbed), the council of Force ghosts smiled and chuckled in delight as they sagely observed the young couple from above, knowing that this was only the beginning of the rest of their lives.


End file.
